
THEHORS 

His Breeding 




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^y DAVID BUFF UM 





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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE HORSE 



THE HORSE 

HIS BREEDING, CARE 
AND USE 



BY 

DAVID BUFFUM 

Illustrated with Diagrams 



HANDBCDKS 




NEW YORK 

OUTING PUBLISHING COMPANY 

MCMXI 



0^ ^% 



Copyright, 1911, By 
OUTING PUBLISHING COMPANY. 



Entered at Stationer's Hall, London, England. 
All rights reserved 



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©CI.A3()0370 



PREFACE 

During the greater part of my life it has fallen 
to my lot to have a great deal to do with horses ; 
in breeding them and studying them, in raising 
them and breaking them to harness, in their care 
and feeding and in the cure of their vices, when 
they were so unfortunate as to have them, a large 
part of my time has been occupied. The knowl- 
edge that is gained in the school of experience is 
generally conceded to be of the most valuable and 
practical kind, and it has occurred to me that 
some of the things I have thus been able to learn 
may be of much value to others. 

In handling " inquiries and answers " concern- 
ing equine matters for a great American period- 
ical, I have often been surprised to see, in the let- 
ters that have come to me from all parts of the 
country and from people of widely varying means 
and conditions, how similar they are in kind. Al- 
most invariably the inquiries concern such prac- 
tical matters as how to feed and stable, how to 
breed so as to produce a good horse for the pur- 
pose intended, how to break to harness, and what 
to do to cure such vices as running away, shying, 
kicking, or balking. It has seemed to me that 



PREFACE 6 

these inquiries point out a well-defined want and 
it is concerning these practical matters — matters 
in which every horse-owner is sure, sooner or 
later, to want help — that this book is chiefly 
written. 

Perhaps, too, in writing the book, I have been 
influenced, in some degree, by another and more 
sentimental reason — which is none other than my 
love for the horse and a desire to promote horse- 
manship in the true sense of the word. For in all 
the vicissitudes of my life I have found the horse 
one of its greatest blessings, an added joy in times 
of prosperity and happiness and a comfort and 
solace in days of disappointment and sorrow. 
Surely such an animal deserves that comprehen- 
sion of what he really is, that insight into his 
nature, and that knowledge of what to expect of 
him and how to manage him and care for him and 
bring out the best that is in him that constitute 
true horsemanship. 

David Buffum, 

Prudence Island, R, I, 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. What Constitutes a Good Horse 11 

II. Our Debt to the Arab ... 25 

III. Choice of a Breed and Prin- 
ciples IN Breeding ... 38 

IV. Cure of Vices 50 

V. Shying 67 

VI. Stabling and Feeding ... 79 

VII. The Colt's Kindergarten Train- 
ing 85 

VIII. The Education of the Colt . 93 

IX. When the Horse is Sick . . . 106 

X. Shoeing 119 

XL Carriage Horses 125 

XII. Draft Horses 137 

XIII. The Evolution of the Two- 
Minute Trotter . ... 149 



It is upon horses that gods and heroes are 
painted riding: and men who are able to manage 
them skilfully are regarded as deserving of admi- 
ration. So extremely beautiful and admirable 
and noble a sight is a horse that bears himself 
superbly that he fixes the gaze of all who see 
him, both young and old: no one, indeed, leaves 
him or is tired of contemplating him as long as he 
continues to display his magnificent attitudes. 

— Xenophon. 



CHAPTER I 

WHAT CONSTITUTES A GOOD HORSE 

THE horse, of all our domestic animals, has 
always held the most conspicuous place. 
It is easy to say that he is more showy, but 
less useful than the cow or sheep and that he has 
carried many men into trouble as well as out of it, 
but the fact remains that he has been celebrated 
in romance and poetry and song, from the days 
when he was admired by Solomon and when Job 
wrote his splendid panegyric on the war-horse, 
down to the present time. 

Is he justly entitled to the place of honor he 
has thus held, and still holds, in the world? And 
is he worthy of the attention of the best intellects 
and the lifetimes of study that, from time to time, 
have been bestowed upon his breeding, care, and 
management? Be assured that he is. No man 
need ever feel that he is misapplying his best 
powers in studying and improving any of the ani- 
mals that Nature has given for his use. And if 
men have sometimes got into trouble through 

11 



12 THE HORSE 

horses, the same might be said of almost any 
other thing — and, clearly, it is not the fault of the 
horse. 

POINTS OF THE HORSE 

The first thing to learn in the science of horse- 
manship — the very A B C of the matter, as it 
were — is the points of a good horse. There is no 
doubt that a great many of my readers already 
know them and equally no doubt that a great 
many have gone far beyond this initial chapter. 
But many times in my life I have been surprised to 
find men of mature years who had always used 
horses and even raised a few colts who were not 
as well up on the matter as one might suppose; 
and I have met many young men who aspired to 
be horsemen without having acquired that essen- 
tial knowledge of the subject that is better learned 
by a little earnest study in the first place than by 
painful and costly experience later. 

It is self-evident that the most important parts 
of a horse and the first to examine are his feet and 
legs. For if he is deficient in this respect, no su- 
periority in other points and no qualities in breed- 
ing or disposition can offset it. The best chair 
or table in the world is useless if it has only three 
or two legs ; and the wisdom of the Arab proverb, 
" No foot, no horse," is apparent. 



A GOOD HORSE 



13 



For these points, the feet of the horse should 
be symmetrical, neither too deep nor too flat, but, 
if failing in either respect, they had better be too 
deep than too flat. It may often happen that, on 
soft and level country roads, a flat foot may not 
occasion much trouble, but it is bad on hard roads 



POORLY On/LLOPED 
HIND QUARTER 




Bad Points to Look Out for in a Horse 

or in cities and is, in all cases, a defect in con- 
formation. 

The limbs should be clean — that is, free from 
fleshiness — but with plenty of bone and substance. 
The fore legs should be, relatively, short from 
the fetlock joint to the knee and long from the 



U THE HORSE 

knee to the horse's body. This is a very im- 
portant point, as no horse was ever good for much 
on the road whose knees were too high up. 

The hind legs should be flat, as well as clean. 
There is an old saying that they should look as if 
the skin had been removed, the bone scraped and 
the skin put back again. This excessive cleanness 
goes with highly-bred horses and is to be insisted 
on in all horses that properly belong in that class, 
such as thoroughbreds, trotters, hackneys, etc. 
In colder-blooded horses we should demand at 
least a reasonable approach to it; as much, we 
may say, as the breed admits of. The gambrel 
joint should be strong and well developed, never 
slender or " dandified," and it is also desirable to 
have it, relatively, near the ground, though this 
is not as important as the position of the fore 
knee. 

The horse should stand square on his legs with 
his feet well under him, and his hoofs should be 
straight fore and aft, neither toeing in nor toeing 
out. 

For the body of the horse, the back should be 
short. 

The hind quarters should be well developed, 
with the hip-joints fairly well forward. The 
rump should be, not straight, but rather straight 
than drooping. That is, the line from the top of 



A GOOD HORSE 



15 



the hips to the root of the tail should be only 
moderately oblique. I am by no means certain 
that the straightness or obliquity of this line 
really makes much difference to the value of the 
horse ; in hundreds that I have examined and seen 



SMAliafANHUO/V' 
rUT FOWHEAD/S'^ 



WEIL OEvnOPEO tSD 

SYMMr*f?ICAL 
^=>nHINO C)0ARTeR5 




Physical Virtues of a Good Horse 

put to severe road and other work I could never 
perceive that it did. But the moderately oblique 
line is far more elegant and it is one of the points 
of equine perfection, and, as such, should always 
have due consideration. 

The shoulders should be slanting, not upright. 



16 THE HORSE 

and the withers reasonably high. This conforma- 
tion makes a strong as ' well as an elegant 
shoulder. 

The body should be nicely rounded, neither 
gaunt nor " pot-bellied," and should be ribbed 
well up toward the hips. 

The chest should be deep, rather than wide, giv- 
ing large lung capacity. 

The neck should be free from undue fleshiness. 
It may be either long or short, as far as utility is 
concerned, the long, of course, being much more 
elegant and therefore to be preferred on well-bred 
horses. In either case it should be bent a little 
just before the point where it joins the head so as 
to give the conformation that we call " clean cut 
in the throttle," a structure that gives the breath- 
ing apparatus free play. 

The head in well-bred horses should be small 
and almost as clean and bony as the limbs. The 
face line, viewed from the side, should be straight, 
not aquiline (or, as in the case of many Arabs, it 
may be slightly dishing). The forehead should 
be flat between the eyes. The eyes should be of 
medium size, set well apart from each other and 
not too near the top of the head, and the head, 
when viewed from the front, should slant in a 
little from the eyes upward. The ears should be 
fine, thin and pointed and of medium length, and 



A GOOD HORSE IT 

they should be so set on that, when pointed for- 
ward, they are parallel, not slanting apart. 

A STANDARD FOR ALL BREEDS 

These points of equine perfection are absolute, 
and therefore they apply to all kinds of horses. 
This statement, in view of the strikingly different 
characteristics of different breeds, may, at first, 
seem wrong, but the experience of a life-time with 
horses of all types has convinced me of its truth. 
In judging horses of different types, the difference 
must be in the application, not in the standard it- 
self ; for a, good horse must be homogeneous in his 
make-up, every part in harmony with other parts, 
8.nd every part must have such modification and 
proportion as conduces to that end. 

For instance, a hackney is a very different 
horse from a thoroughbred and if he looked even 
like the best thoroughbred, he would not be a good 
hackney. But it is just as important that he 
have a good back, a slanting shoulder, and clean 
limbs a,nd head as in the case of a thoroughbred. 
His neck, it is sometimes argued, is so different 
that it cannot be judged in the same way. So it 
is different, but if it be examined understandingly 
it will be found to differ only in such manner and 
degree as conform to his type and, hot one whit 



18 THE HORSE 

less than in the thoroughbred, it should be free 
from undue fleshiness, clean and elegant in outline, 
and so set on as to give a clean-cut throttle. In 
other words, as a good point is a good one and a 
bad point a bad one, the same standard must al- 
ways be used — but applied in such a way as to 
conform to the modifications that always exist 
in different types and breeds. 

To follow the subject a little further (for it is 
a vitally important one) the plea for an abate- 
ment in certain respects of the requirements for 
equine perfection is most often heard in connec- 
tion with draft-horses. These animals, it is 
urged, serve a different purpose from driving 
stock and therefore, if they are only large and 
strong and smooth, a considerable departure from 
the embodiment of the points we have named makes 
very little difference. This has not been my ex- 
perience. As a breeder for many years of both 
road and draft stock, I have found that the latter, 
no less than the former, brought the best prices 
when, apart from the distinguishing marks of 
their breed, they possessed the greatest number of 
points of general equine excellence. They were 
handsomer — and beauty always sells. 

As the manager of large stables belonging to 
the city of New York, I observed constantly that 
those of our horses which had the best points — 



A GOOD HORSE 19 

short backs, good shoulders, limbs, and feet, and 
well-developed hind-quarters — stood up better 
and lasted longer under their work than the 
others; and this, too, was often irrespective of 
size. But that breeders did not realize this — or, 
what is more likely, that they often sacrificed 
points to mere size — was evident. For the city 
was willing to pay good prices for its stock and 
our horses were selected with care, and yet a large 
percentage were too long in the back and too up- 
right in the shoulder; a great many had rather 
poor feet. With a greater range in regard to 
size these defects could, to a large extent, have 
been avoided, but our work called for heavy teams 
and we rarely bought a horse weighing less than 
sixteen hundred pounds. 

It is in the power of man to breed horses large 
or small and of either a good or a bad conforma- 
tion. But he greatly errs who is careless in the 
latter respect or who argues that good points are 
not always important, whatever the type. For 
good points were not the invention of man, but 
were learned by him through centuries of use and 
study of the horse. They are based upon the 
mechanism of the animal and were first decided 
upon by One whose judgment does not err and 
whose wisdom, whether in matters of horseflesh or 
otherwise, we cannot question. 



20 THE HORSE 

ORIGIN OF THE HORSE AND FORMATION OF 
DIFFERENT BREEDS 

In speaking of the origin of the horse and his 
early development as a domestic animal, I must 
of necessity be brief, for the subject is too large 
to discuss at length. But a few facts in this con- 
nection have a bearing upon what we can do in the 
modification of equine types and so have practical 
value for the breeder too important to go wholly 
unnoted. 

The horse is believed to have originated in 
southern Asia. His natural size is not very great, 
averaging about eight hundred pounds, and there 
is reason to believe that the original type was 
rather fine than coarse. All the different breeds 
now in vogue, ranging in fineness from the thor- 
oughbred to the coarsest of the heavy types and 
in size from the little Shetland to the great draft- 
horses, trace back to this common origin and are 
simply modifications of it, wrought by environ- 
ment or the skill of man, or both. This fact ex- 
plains the tendency of all breeds to revert to the 
natural and parent type. In other words, all the 
variations of the original type which we call 
breeds have a constant tendency to drop back to 
where they started. 

The breeder of draft-stock, if he becomes care- 



A GOOD HORSE 21 

less in either mating or feeding, will find each gen- 
eration a trifle lighter in weight ; while the breeder 
of ponies (if in the temperate zone) will, unless 
he use equal care, find each generation a trifle 
heavier. In like manner, as the run is the natural 
gait of the horse when he is going his fastest, so 
it is difficult (and, in all probability, will prove 
impossible) to breed this tendency entirely out of 
trotters. 

Let us take a glance at what has been done by 
Nature and what by man in the formation of 
breeds. Breeds of ponies were formed by Nature 
in very hot or very cold countries, mainly the lat- 
ter, where the horse will inevitably deteriorate in 
size. Climate has also some effect in other ways. 
But by far the greatest number of modifications 
of the equine type — as the thoroughbred, the trot- 
ter, the hackney, and the draft breeds — were 
formed by the skill of man in selecting, mating, 
and feeding. 

Environment, it is true, cannot be wholly ig- 
nored; the dweller in a mountainous country, for 
instance, is not well situated for raising heavy 
draft-horses. But as a factor in the formation 
of different breeds and in the production of speed 
I have long felt that its importance had been 
greatly overestimated. Indeed, I have never 
been able to discover that horses of most of our 



2S THE HORSE 

types could not be bred successfully in all parts 
of the temperate zone where farming or stock- 
raising could be engaged in at all. It is, of 
course, easier to breed them where the soil is rich 
and the pasturage abundant, but these accessories 
are not indispensable. The Arabs have always 
got along without them and their success as breed- 
ers can hardly be questioned. 

The development of different breeds from the 
original type began almost with the dawn of his- 
tory. The Greeks made much advance in the 
science and it is evident, if only from the treatise 
that has come down to us from Xenophon, that 
their breed was a good one. The Roman horse, 
notwithstanding the fact that the Romans owed 
what they knew of horse-breeding — as, indeed, 
the knowledge of all other arts and sciences — to 
the Greeks, does not seem to have been as good. 
He had good, clean limbs and head, but his body 
was too thick and chunky. This defect doubtless 
came from a mistaken idea on the part of his 
breeders as to what constituted equine beauty and 
grandeur, the wide chest and thick, arched neck 
seeming to them to present a more imposing ap- 
pearance than a finer and better type. 

Fortunately, we know just how the Roman 
horse looked. The equestrian statue of Marcus 
Aurelius, made by an unknown sculptor some sev- 



A GOOD HORSE 23 

enteen centuries ago and still in perfect condition, 
gives a true representation of the horse of that 
period and is well worthy of the study of horsemen. 

To the breeders of ancient Greece, notwith- 
standing Xenophon's splendid and comprehensive 
treatise, the horseman of to-day really owes very 
little. Our most precious legacy did not come 
from them. But there was a race of men, even 
at that early day, who not only knew the form of 
the true horse, but also knew, as familiarly as 
their own souls, the laws and principles by which 
he was produced — the Arabs. To them be the 
honor of having, through all the centuries in which 
so much that was precious was lost, preserved for 
us in its pristine purity the highest type of horses 
the world has known. 

We owe to the work of the Arab breeders all 
that we most value in our horses — speed, endur- 
ance, disposition, and elegance of form, all came 
from this source. The thoroughbred, fastest 
horse in the world at the run, was evolved directly 
from Arabian blood; and in our trotters, though 
by a less direct route, it plays an equally impor- 
tant part. Count Orloff used it largely in per- 
fecting the Orloff trotter of Russia — a wonderful 
animal in many respects; and it is even claimed, 
with more or less show of reason, that it entered 
somewhat into the composition of some of our 



U THE HORSE 

heavier breeds. All this does not prove that the 
Arabian is the best horse for all purposes ; on the 
contrary, at the present age of the world, there 
are only a few uses for which, when bred in his 
purity, he is best adapted. But Arabian blood is 
the leaven that leavens the whole lump, the element 
without which our best breeds of horses could not 
have been evolved. 



CHAPTER II 

OUR DEBT TO THE ARAB 

IF I seem to be dwelling too long on the blood 
lines that go to make up our modern breeds, 
I can only say that, without a clear percep- 
tion of the why and wherefore of things, any 
really intelligent grasp of the science of horse- 
manship is impossible. There are many sea cap- 
tains wiio have learned to take observations and 
work them out by certain formulas which they do 
not understand, but which, nevertheless, give them 
the ship's position on the chart. Such men make 
shift to get around, it is true, but they never be- 
come such skilled and expert navigators as those 
who not only apply the required formula, but 
know exactly why they do so. 

Among the different horses you have owned 
there have been some whose skin was thinner and 
whose coat finer than the others, who, when 
warmed up a little, would show a fine network of 
veins under the skin, and when put to some un- 
usually long and hard journey would finish with 
a nerve and energy that were more and more ap- 

25 



m THE HORSE 

parent from beginning to end. Do you know 
why? I am glad to say, though well enough 
acquainted with the other kind, that I have had 
many such and am at present using every day a 
certain mare, thoroughbred, who, when she came 
into my possession, was so high-strung, so full of 
nervous energy, that she had never been known to 
walk a step, and for this reason was never used by 
her owner or his family, but always exercised by 
a groom. 

Under a little sane treatment (a matter of 
which I shall have more to say later) she soon 
learned to go quietly with me. But let the drive 
be rather longer than common — say ten miles, in- 
stead of her usual four or five — and the old spirit 
and nervous ambition are all back again. And 
if, on an all-day drive, her muscles become tired, 
as they needs must, she does not know it and, if 
I let her, would undoubtedly keep going till she 
fell in her tracks. 

Now this quality, although we have, in breed- 
ing, to consider many other things, such as size, 
style, disposition, and the ability to haul a heavy 
load, is of all equine attributes, the most kingly; 
it is the spirit that never quits and never says die. 
Without it, our race-horses would be valueless 
and our roadsters no pleasure to use. It is easy 
enough, and true enough, to say that it is owing to 



OUR DEBT TO THE ARAB 9,1 

the " warm blood " a horse has in his veins. But 
this does not wholly answer the question, nor go 
quite to the root of the matter. What makes 
warm blood? What gives to our thoroughbreds 
and trotters their dead-game qualities ? 

The answer is oriental blood — Arabian or, if 
not always literally and strictly that, then of a 
stock so closely allied as to be practically the 
same thing. It is true that we have to go back 
a long distance to find it, but there it is, the start- 
ing-point, the source and fountainhead of the 
highest equine characteristics. Again, why? Be- 
cause the Arabian horse was bred with reference 
to speed and endurance and upon the highest 
standard of conformation and character, from a 
period so remote that it can hardly be traced. 
And the fixity of type in any breed — its tendency 
to reproduce itself unaltered when bred, like sire 
to like dam, and its prepotency when crossed 
upon other stock — is in direct proportion to the 
time it has been bred as a distinct breed without 
contamination or admixture. 

We, whose beards are gray, can recall a time, 
not so very long ago, either, when the trotter was 
a colder-blooded horse than he is now and when 
it was often said, especially by breeders of thor- 
oughbred stock, that the American trotter was 
of no fixed type and no recognized conformation. 



28 THE HORSE 

Going back a good deal farther, there was a time 
when the same thing could be said of the English 
race-horse. In the main, his breeders were trying 
to develop him by simply selecting the best and 
fastest stock. The introduction of certain ani- 
mals of Eastern breeding — the Byerley Turk and, 
later, the Curwen Barb and the now famous Bar- 
ley Arabian — made an impress so marked that 
their value could not be ignored, but it was not 
till the days of the Godolphin Arabian, some 
twenty years later, that the value of oriental blood, 
as the true source of speed and endurance, was 
fully recognized and understood by horsemen. 

The story of the Godolphin Arabian is one of 
the most fascinating in equine history. In com- 
mon with the accounts of much that occurred in 
that long-ago time some of its details are doubt- 
less open to question and its missing pages filled 
in by matter that is not well attested. So I give 
the story for whatever it may be worth, but to 
those who prefer to doubt it I would point out 
two things, — first, that any doubt that may be 
felt of the more romantic incidents with which his 
story is credited can take nothing away from the 
honor which is his proven right ; and furthermore 
that the obscurity which would make possible the 
introduction of fictitious incidents attended only 
the first part of the horse's career; later, as the 



OUR DEBT TO THE ARAB 29 

most noted horse of his period, his place in the 
annals of the English race-horse is a matter of 
record. 

This celebrated horse, whose original name was 
Scham, was one of several choice animals that 
were sent as a present to the King of France by 
the Bey of Tunis. Each, as the proper accom- 
paniment of so princely a gift, had an attendant 
Moorish slave as groom. Scham's groom, Agba, 
seems to have been a man thoroughly versed in 
the horsemanship of his country and fully aware 
of the great value of his charge, which he had 
trained and attended from birth. But the pres- 
ent, splendid as it was, made little impression on 
the French king. The finely-formed, nervous ani- 
mals were of a type to which he was unaccustomed 
and of which he knew nothing; differing totally 
from the heavy French stock, they seemed to him 
small, insignificant, and, in a word, of little value. 
He gave the slaves their liberty and directed his 
master of the stables to sell the horses for what 
they would bring. Scham was thus acquired by a 
drunken teamster, who drove a garbage-cart, and 
put to work in his new owner's business. What 
became of the others is unknown. 

Agba was separated from his charge and for 
many weeks knew nothing of his whereabouts. 
But he was keenly alive to the fact that, however 



so THE HORSE 

the horse might be underestimated in France, in 
Tunis, where king and commoner alike were horse- 
men, he was adjudged of great value. He resolved 
to find the horse and, if possible, to acquire him 
by a term of service. Adrift, as he was, in a 
strange city and knowing but little of its lan- 
guage, the search was no easy matter, and when 
he finally discovered the horse — which was late 
one evening, in one of the poorest parts of the 
city — he found him miserably stabled, covered 
with harness-galls and sores, and so emaciated as 
to be hardly recognizable. He threw his arms 
around the horse's neck and, with many caresses 
and words of endearment, proceeded to make him 
as comfortable as the shed and its meager equip- 
ment permitted. 

While he was thus engaged the carter appeared. 
Scornfully (and, perhaps, naturally) rejecting 
Agba's offer to purchase the horse by a term of 
service, he ordered the Moor out of the stable. 
The latter had no alternative but to obey, but he 
by no means gave up his purpose. In some way 
and some time so precious an animal must be res- 
cued from his wretched situation; meanwhile, he 
must be cared for and his strength kept up. By 
doing sundry odd j obs about the city, Agba man- 
aged to pick up a little money and with this, often 
stinting himself of needed food, he bought grain 



OUR DEBT^ TO THE ARAB 61 

and medicine, and surreptitiously visiting Scham 
at night, he fed him, bathed his wounds, and 
otherwise afforded him what comfort he could. 
There is little question that the horse would have 
died during this period had it not been for this 
care and attention. 

One day an English Quaker, who was staying 
in Paris, saw Scham pitifully struggling with a 
load that he could not draw, his master, mean- 
while, applying a heavy whip. The Quaker was 
a horseman, and his practised eye promptly took 
in the points that the French king had failed to 
see. Clearly, this was no ordinary horse. Ex- 
amining him and satisfying himself of his age and 
soundness, he at once purchased him of the carter. 
Agba, who soon learned of the event, now sought 
the Quaker and told his story — with the result 
that he was hired as groom for Scham and both 
were sent to the Quaker's country seat in England. 

Thus the horse first found himself on English 
soil and, under good feed and treatment, he soon 
regained his original beauty and spirit. Indeed, 
he regained the latter in too large a degree, for 
the Friend's family, accustomed as they were to 
colder-blooded animals, became afraid of him and 
he was sold to a livery-stable keeper, named 
Rogers. Agba, greatly chagrined at the occur- 
rence, left the Friend's employ and sought a posi- 



32 THE HORSE 

tion with Rogers, but the latter refused to hire 
him. This proved a mistake, for Scham was get- 
ting more grain than he was used to in his native 
land and he needed skilful management. Under 
the care of Rogers's grooms he grew irritable and 
vicious, and soon Rogers himself could do nothing 
with him. 

Agba now applied a second time for employ- 
ment, doubtless with the " I told you so " that is 
always so exasperating to the man who is wrong. 
Rogers not only refused to hire him, but forbade 
him the premises. But Agba continued to hang 
around the stable, visiting the horse when he 
could, and, to put a stop to this, he was arrested 
a few nights later when scaling the stable wall 
with some carrots in his pocket that he had 
brought for Scham and put into jail on a charge 
of attempted burglary. 

News of this occurrence reached Lord Godol- 
phin, who lived in the near neighborhood and had 
already heard from the Quaker the story of the 
horse and the Moor's remarkable devotion to him. 
He procured Agba's release, took him into his 
own employ, and bought the horse of Rogers, 
who was exceedingly glad to get rid of him. 
Scham, with Agba in charge, was now sent to the 
Godolphin breeding stables. Abga was overjoyed; 
the horse was now again owned by a great 



OUR DEBT TO THE ARAB 33 

sheik. But if the Moor thought, as he doubtless 
did, that the horse's real value was now recognized, 
he was soon to learn his error, for Godolphin re- 
garded Scham only as an interesting specimen of 
the oriental stock, in no wise comparable to the 
English-bred horses that formed his stud, and had 
no thought of using him as a sire. The " head 
of the stud " — the horse that held the place of 
honor in the stable — was an English-bred stallion 
named Hobgoblin, and to him the best mares were 
bred. But Agba had nevertheless determined 
that, by hook or by crook, Scham should have a 
chance to show his value as a sire. 

There was a mare in the stables, named Roxana, 
whom it had been arranged to breed to Hobgoblin. 
She was a daughter of Flying Childers and so a 
descendant, on one side, of the Darley Arabian 
and was considered one of the best mares in the 
stables. 

On the day that she was to be bred to Hobgob- 
lin one of the grooms stood holding her near the 
center of the stable-yard while, from a gate at the 
farther end, the head groom entered, leading Hob- 
goblin. A surprise was in store for the head 
groom. As he passed the enclosure where Scham 
was kept, its door was suddenly thrown wide open 
and Scham, with a shrill neigh, rushed out. Ow- 
ing partly to his past record and partly to stories 



54 THE HORSE 

told by Agba, Scham was greatly feared in the 
stables, and when he came thus loose into the yard 
both grooms deserted their horses and fled. Hob- 
goblin, however, was more brave ; he at once chal- 
lenged the intruder and in a moment the fight 
was on. 

Not to go into the details of the encounter, it 
is sufficient to say that Scham, although much 
smaller, thrashed the big stallion, thrashed him 
thoroughly and well, thrashed him till he fled the 
yard, leaving Roxana, who, meanwhile, had been 
standing quietly by, quite as if awaiting the result 
of the combat. And if Scham did not realize at 
first the full extent of his victory, we may be sure 
that Agba did. For the horse had triumphed 
both in love and war. 

Word of what had taken place was sent to 
Lord Godolphin, but it was too late, as Roxana 
was now in foal to Scham. In due season she pro- 
duced a colt who was named Lath. Lord Godol- 
phin's views now began to change, for, as Lath 
grew and developed, he proved much superior to 
any of the get of Hobgoblin ; and when, as a two- 
year-old, he easily beat them all, as well as several 
other of the best youngsters in England, the value 
of his sire was established. 

The Godolphin Arabian, as Scham was called, 
now became the most famous sire in England — 



OUIl DEBT TO THE ARAB 35 

not, perhaps, that he was really better than the 
Arabian sires who preceded him (though of this 
we cannot judge) but that horsemen now knew, 
for the first time, what Arabian blood really stood 
for. The sons and daughters of Arabian sires 
had always proved superior animals, but breeders 
knew now that this was not because the imported 
sires happened, by chance, to be good horses and 
prepotent getters, but because they were Arabian. 
Breeders of racing-stock now bred back to the 
Arabian strain again and again, till there was 
practically no other blood in their stock. And 
thus originated the word " thoroughbred," so 
often misunderstood and misapplied. For thor- 
oughbred means: Bred thoroughly to the parent 
or original stock. 

Time, the skill of man and a climate generous 
of oats and grass have since greatly modified the 
thoroughbred horse. He is faster now than his 
Arabian progenitor, and he is larger and does 
not resemble him very closely in conformation. 
He presents, in fact, all the characteristics of a 
distinct and pure type. But he has the same 
blood-like and aristocratic look, the same clean 
limbs and head, fine skin, and points of excellence. 
And as the most ancient type of our modern 
horses, he is prepotent above all others. 

Among American horses, the thoroughbred is 



S6 THE HORSE 

the only one that was developed directly from the 
Arabian. But indirectly, through thoroughbred 
crosses, Arabian blood has had an important part 
in the development of all our best types and breeds 
of roadsters. In all breeds thus formed the thor- 
oughbred strain — whether late or remote — is un- 
mistakable; most interesting of all, perhaps, is 
the part it has played in the development of the 
American trotter. 

Any one who will take the trouble to study care- 
fully the pedigrees of our early trotters will be 
struck by the frequency with which thorough- 
bred crosses appear. Again and again they re- 
cur. And yet the history of the trotter was, in 
some respects, like that of the thoroughbred ; men 
did not seem to grasp the true significance of this 
fact, and it was not till Lcland Stanford bought 
Electioneer and bred him to strictlj^ thoroughbred 
mares that the full value of thoroughbred blood 
in developing the American trotter as a breed was 
clearly recognized. Ever since then its effect has 
been increasingly apparent, and if there were 
some cold-blooded trotters in the old days, the 
trotter of the present is a clean and blood-like 
animal, as game in every way as the thoroughbred 
of whose blood he so largely partakes. 

In thus showing the way in which Arabian blood 
has come down to our finest modern horses I must 



OUR DEBT TO THE ARAB 37 

not be understood as implying that its further use 
would therefore work further improvement. For 
every distinct breed has its distinct and special 
purpose. And in all well-established breeds — the 
test of which always is that they shall reproduce 
themselves unaltered when bred, like sire to like 
dam — the time for outcrossing has ceased and 
they are best improved within their own lines. 
The most striking instance of this is furnished by 
the thoroughbred. For, although evolved from 
the Arabian, he is now, as we have stated, a faster 
horse; and no one could say that (unless lacking 
in endurance or some other essential quality, which 
he surely is not) he could be improved by crossing 
with anything that is slower. 

If a further improvement of the thoroughbred 
is possible, it must come — as improvement must 
come in the case of every one of our well-estab- 
lished animal types — not by new crossings, but 
by the judicious breeding that aims to develop 
and accentuate the virtues the breed has now. 



CHAPTER III 

CHOICE OF A BREED AND PRINCIPLES IN 
BREEDING 

THE farmer who desires to raise horses for 
market should first consider carefully and 
earnestly his choice of the kind of horses 
he shall raise. Shall it be draft stock, carriage 
horses, thoroughbreds, or trotters? There is a 
demand for all. Draft horses are constantly 
needed ; fine carriage horses were never worth more 
than they are now, and horses for speed will un- 
doubtedly be wanted as long as civilization endures 
and our human nature remains what it is. 

First of all comes the question of fitness of lo- 
cality. As we have said, horses can be raised suc- 
cessfully in any place where it is fit to farm at all ; 
nevertheless, when it comes to the choice of breed, 
the question of environment cannot be wholly ig- 
nored. A rough, hilly farm, for instance, where 
the pasturage is scanty and the animals have to 
" rustle " more or less for a living, is a very poor 
place in which to raise heavy draft horses. On 
the other hand, a rich, level country is especially 
well suited to such stock, and is equally un suited 

38 



CHOICE OF A BREED 39 

to the raising of little ponies, whose smallness is 
the measure of their value. 

These, it will be observed, are extreme types and 
for that reason are taken as examples. For all 
general truths should be accepted with common 
sense, and it is along the means between these ex- 
tremes that the drawbacks of an environment 
which may not, in itself, be the best, can be suc- 
cessfully overcome. 

Of equal importance is the matter of market. 
If a man goes to raising carriage stock in a lo- 
cality where every one else is raising draft stock, 
even if the country is equally well adapted to it, 
he will often find himself somewhat handicapped 
in selling, simply because the place is known by its 
principal output and its buyers are looking for 
draft stock and nothing else. Thesame thing, 
of course, applies to the breeder of draft stock 
in a carriage-horse-breeding neighborhood, and 
the lesson is simply that it is easier and generally 
more profitable to go with the stream than against 
it, although there are many neighborhoods where 
all kinds of horses are raised and where one can 
be raised as advantageously as another. 

But most of all, in my opinion, should the 
breeder consider his own personal tastes and in- 
clinations. What kind of horse attracts him 
most? And how much time and attention will he 



40 THE HORSE 

bestow upon his horses? Upon the answer to 
these questions his choice should largely depend. 

Next to ponies, which are the least care of all, 
draft stock is the most easily managed — partly 
because it is rather less liable to accident than 
other kinds and partly because, although it must 
be practically matured to sell, very little is re- 
quired in the way of preparation beyond having 
it in nice condition and sufficiently well broken to 
go safely in harness. Carriage horses, on the 
other hand, require considerable handling; they 
must, beyond all things, show well, and an evident 
greenness will often upset a sale which otherwise 
would go through all right. All this takes time 
and attention. Trotting stock also requires more 
preparation than draft, although, in the case of 
horses raised expressly for speed, it is usually bet- 
ter to sell when quite young and let the bu3^er at- 
tend to all the training, except the mere breaking 
to harness. 

The man who has not the time and patience for 
all this careful training or who cannot bring to 
his work that deep interest that leads him to ac- 
cept philosophically the greater risks and disap- 
pointments that go with the breeding of road stock 
had best confine himself to the safer and easier 
task of raising draft horses. Nor need he fear 
that the field will not furnish ample scope for all 



CHOICE OF A BREED 41 

the skill and knowledge he may have. For in 
draft stock, as in all others, the handsomest and 
best bring the good prices — the prices that make 
it worth while and add zest and pleasure to the 
breeder's work. And the best product, though 
easier of attainment in some lines than in others, 
is never to be had without both care and pains. 

But if he can bring to the work of raising 
horses the patience that does not tire and the 
zeal that does not flag; if he is 'willing to give to 
it the best that is in him of intelligence and study 
and perseverance and realizes that the improve- 
ment of the highest of our domestic animals is 
well worthy of the sacrifice; if he has that innate 
love of the horse which brings insight into char- 
acter and nature as well as physical features, 
then, by all means, let him clioose some one of the 
finer types of road stock. It will yield him a 
commensurate return in money and also a pleasure 
and satisfaction that will last as long as he lives. 

The prizes to be won in horse-breeding are in 
proportion to the risks taken — a condition that 
applies, in fact, to pretty nearly every other in- 
dustry. And so, as it is easier to raise draft 
horses, their breeder is more certain of a fairly 
uniform price. But the highest prices of all go 
to the best of the finer types, the animals that are 
the hardest of all to produce. 



42 THE HORSE 

The kind of horse once chosen, the next step 
for the breeder is to have a distinct picture in his 
mind of the type at which he aims and always 
breed with that end in view. This is the first 
principle in successful breeding and it can never 
be neglected with impunity. There is an ex- 
tremely erroneous idea in many minds that if the 
breeder has his foundation stock of some pure and 
distinct breed, he will then be saved this trouble 
and that all he will have to do is to breed his regis- 
tered mares to a registered horse of the same kind. 
But there is no royal road in stock-breeding ; and 
if the same care is not observed in the mating of 
pure-bred parents that would be in the case of 
other animals, the stock will surely and swiftly 
deteriorate. 

It seems almost needless to add that the ideal at 
which the breeder aims should be first of all per- 
fect in conformation. For instance, if you are 
raising Percherons, in which large size is a de- 
sirable feature, have the size, by all means, if pos- 
sible, but do not sacrifice symmetry to it; sym- 
metry should come first. I am convinced that 
even the breeders of trotters can make more money 
in the long run and have a far more satisfactory 
experience when they breed for type and confor- 
mation rather than speed. A great many breed- 
ers of trotting stock, in fact, do this. For 



CHOICE OF A BREED 43 

speed, however desirable, is not, in its superlative 
degree, easily attained; whereas beauty, style, 
action, and finish, which are easier to produce, are 
always in keen demand and always command a high 
price. 

In deciding what stallion to use, the criterion 
by which he should always, if possible, be judged 
is the quality of his get. This is the highest test 
of the value of any sire, and it is obvious that, if 
his get is uniformly superior, his individual quali- 
ties are of little consequence in comparison. But 
if, as in the case of a young and untried horse, 
this proof of his value is wanting, he must be 
judged by his breeding and his merits as an indi- 
vidual. He should run true to his type, whatever 
that may be — whether thoroughbred, carriage, or 
draft — and his pedigree should be free from 
crosses with other types. This forefends the 
danger of reversion, or " taking back," which, 
when a cross-bred stallion is used, is always im- 
minent. Reversion, it is true, may also occur in 
pure-bred and homogeneously-bred stock, but it 
will be readily seen that if the foal takes back to 
a horse of the same kind as his sire but little mis- 
chief is done. It is when he takes back to a horse 
of a different kind that his breeder's calculations 
are upset. 

The mare should always be of somewhat the 



U THE HORSE 

same type as the stallion; difference in size does 
not matter very much, as long as the type is rea- 
sonably similar — though, of course, the difference 
should not be excessive. It is only when the two 
parents are somewhat alike in type and points 
that they assimilate nicely and the points of one 
are modified or strengthened, as the case may be, 
by those of the other. It is in this way that good 
points are fixed and perpetuated and along no 
other road can much progress be made in breed- 
ing. The folly, therefore, of mating extremes, in 
the hope that the good points of one will offset 
the bad points of the other, should be apparent ; if 
a weedy, long-backed, and loosely put-up mare be 
bred to a very chunky and compact stallion — her 
exact opposite in type — the resulting foal is very 
rarely a happy medium between the two; sym- 
metrical, well-proportioned animals are not pro- 
duced in that way. 

And, likewise, if both parents have good points, 
the mating of extremes is unwise ; it would be fool- 
ish, for instance, to breed a thoroughbred mare 
to a draft stallion or a heavy draft mare to a 
thoroughbred stallion — although, if we are to 
choose between evils, the latter is the less objec- 
tionable of the two. 

Some years ago a farmer came to me with a 
mare that he wanted to breed. I had three stal- 



CHOICE OF A BREED 45 

lions at the time; one of trotting and thorough 
blood (his sire a trotter, his dam a thoroughbred) ; 
one a Percheron, and one a small pony. He 
looked them all over and decided upon the Per- 
cheron as being the heaviest and most compact. 
The mare was an ill-looking brute — weedy, long- 
backed, upright-shouldered, cow-hocked, and gen- 
erally as lacking in good points as anything I 
ever saw. To my expressed doubt of the wisdom 
of breeding such an animal her owner averred that 
her points might be a trifle off, but the horse would 
set that all right. In point of fact, he did not; 
I doubt if anything on earth could have set right 
that combination of horrors, and the resulting 
colt was such a disgrace to his sire that I objected 
to the mare being brought back a second time. 

In connection with this same stallion I recall 
another instance which illustrates the point, 
though in a different way, and that was the breed- 
itig to him of a thoroughbred mare. The mare 
was a beauty and had the best of points, but was, 
in my opinion, of too slender and delicate a type 
to be bred to so heavy a horse. The colt, how- 
ever, proved to be very handsome and, as he grew 
and developed, was frequently pointed out to me 
as evidence of my mistaken judgment. Still, I 
had my doubts ; the mingling of types in him was 
not perfect and his limbs, though beautifully 



46 THE HORSE 

formed, were not as heavy as they should be for 
his body. As he matured, this disproportion be- 
came more evident and I was not surprised when 
at four years he threw out a curb on each hind leg. 

Both parents of this colt were sound and of 
sound lineage. The trouble was that the cross 
was too extreme. 

The disposition of a horse is a thing of so much 
importance that no breeder can afford to over- 
look it. It is, of course, a well-known fact that 
many naturally good colts are spoiled and have 
their tempers soured by bad management. But 
this does not account, by any means, for all the 
bad ones. Horses vary in character and disposi- 
tion as much as human beings do and come by 
their traits in the same way — by inheritance. 

The disposition of a horse seems to be inherited 
more from his dam than his sire. So true is this 
that, while I have known many good-dispositioned 
colts whose sires were not very pleasant animals, 
I have known very few who were the offspring of 
peevish, irritable, and treacherous mares. Such 
mares should never be used for breeding, unless 
some exceptional circumstance (as the possession 
of unusual speed or endurance) may make it seem 
worth while, and even then its expediency may 
often be doubted. For the disposition of a horse 
affects his value very materially and there are 



CHOICE OF A BREED 47 

enough good mares in the world to raise colts 
from, without using the bad ones. 

The instances I have met with of bad disposi- 
tion that was clearly the result of inheritance 
have been numerous. One of them, which seemed 
to me of special interest, is, I think, worth re- 
counting. A former neighbor of mine, a carpen- 
ter by trade, with little knowledge of horses, was 
seized by a desire to raise a fast horse. For this 
purpose he bought a black mare, of unknown 
breeding, but very handsome and rather fast; he 
bought her for a mere song because she was of a 
disposition so irritable and treacherous as to ren- 
der her of little real value. With the judgment 
to be expected of a man who would buy such an 
animal for a brood mare, he bred her to a stallion 
whose disposition was as bad as hers. Thus he 
had the material for a pretty bad inheritance on 
both sides. 

The result was a filly remarkably handsome and 
with promise of some speed. The carpenter and 
his wife made a great pet of her and for three 
years she showed no ill temper worth mentioning; 
there was nothing, in fact, to rouse it. Then she 
was put out to a " breaker " of the old school to 
be broken to harness. The breaker, as was 
learned later, had nothing but trouble with her; 
trouble, too, of so serious a kind that he acquired 



48 THE HORSE 

a great respect for her teeth and heels. In due 
time, however, he returned her " nicely broken," 
as he said. But having, in some remote corner 
of his make-up, something which he probably con- 
sidered a conscience and, possibly unwilling for 
the carpenter to die unwarned, he added that 
" when you use her, you want to look out sharp, 
for there's lots of gimp in her." 

Had the carpenter been more familiar with the 
delicate circumlocutions of the " profession," he 
might have guessed the truth ; as it was, he inti- 
mated that no amount of " gimp " was too much 
for him and announced that the next day he was 
going to " give the natives a surprise party." 
He did. No sooner had he got his filly hooked up 
and taken his seat on the gig than she started to 
run and kick. The carpenter hurled himself out 
backward, as the quickest way of quitting the com- 
bination, and the gig was soon a mass of kindling 
wood. When the filly was caught, nearly a mile 
away, she had divested herself of every strap of 
harness, even of the bridle — " kicked herself stark 
naked " as the carpenter told me — a performance 
as extraordinary as it was immodest. 

This episode and the fact that the filly had 
things all her own way seemed to rouse all the 
latent devil in her nature. She was like a fiend 
incarnate and bit and kicked to such an extent 



CHOICE OF A BREED 49 

that it was with great difficulty slic could be fed 
and cared for. A few days later the carpenter 
asked me if I would take her and " get her to go- 
ing gentle." My heart sank at the proposal, but 
my reputation as a horseman was at stake, so I 
named my price — a good stiff one — which was at 
once agreed to. I had treated some colts that 
were rather bad, but had not seen so extreme a 
case as this, and she remains on record as the 
worst horse I ever handled. 

She was brought to my barn by three men, one 
on each side, with long ropes attached to her 
bridle and one behind with a whip. Her owner 
followed at a safe distance. His affection for his 
erstwhile pet had waned and he spoke of his recent 
back-somersault and of the filly herself in terms 
unfit for publication. 

The methods by which this filly was broken and 
rendered gentle in harness and stable would re- 
quire too long a description for this chapter. 
They will be discussed, in detail, in a chapter on 
the cure of vices. It is sufficient to say here that 
we did break her and sent her home, a safe animal 
to use and care for. 

Now all this trouble came from a disposition 
resulting from bad judgment in the selection of 
parents. Even if such colts can be subdued and 
made useful, is it worth while to raise them? I 
think all will agree with me that it is not. 



CHAPTER ly 

CURE OF VICES 

IN all training of horses — whether breaking 
to harness, the cure of bad habits, or teach- 
ing the tricks of the circus — the first es- 
sential is to understand the nature of the horse. 
For all scientific training is based upon certain 
features in the horse's mental make-up, and 
without a knowledge of these features no great 
success can be made. With it you can do things 
that the majority of those who use horses cannot 
do. And yet there is no magic in good horseman- 
ship. It is an art, to be studied and learned like 
any other art. And although, as in other things, 
those who have the most natural aptitude for it 
can become the most proficient, yet its principles 
are simple and can be mastered by any one. 

It was stated by Darwin many years ago that 
the minds of animals do not differ from those of 
men in kind, but only in degree, and this is so 
evident that I do not think any intelligent man, 
who has had much experience with horses, can 
doubt it for a moment. The horse has the same 
emotions as man — love, hate, fear, jealousy — and 

50 



CURE OF VICES 51 

his reasoning faculties work in the same way, sub- 
ject always to the limitations implied by the law 
already stated, that they do differ, and differ a 
great deal, in degree. Hence, as we would nat- 
urally expect, the horse reasons a great deal more 
from experience and a great deal less from observa- 
tion than man does. Indeed, horses that reason 
from observation, to any noteworthy extent, are 
rare. 

A very familiar evidence of this limitation is 
seen in the halter-breaking of colts. The little 
colt, when first tied up, is tied by a halter that 
he cannot possibly break and (reasoning wholly 
from this experience and in nowise from what he 
observes) it does not thereafter occur to him that 
he can break away, even if tied by a rope that he 
could snap like a thread. By the same principles 
he is taught the needed lessons in docility and 
obedience in other respects. But suppose that 
some time, when a little restive and tied by a weak 
halter, he does break his halter-rope. If he 
fully realizes what he has done, he will try the 
same thing again, even if tied with a rope strong 
enough to hold a ship. 

It is in this way that bad habits are formed. 
The well-broken horse is kind because, whenever 
he attempted to do as he pleased, he found his 
master's will superior to his own. He learns a 



52 THE HORSE 

vice because, on some unfortunate occasion, he 
discovered that in at least that one particular he 
could do as he pleased after all and that his master 
was powerless to prevent it. He repeats the vice 
because, having committed it once with impunity, 
he feels all confidence that he can do so again. 
In the cure he must be met on his own ground and 
the matter reasoned out, by arguments that he 
cannot fail to understand, till he owns himself 
mistaken. To do this — to make a vicious horse 
unlearn the dangerous knowledge of his own 
power — will manifestly require different and more 
radical measures than are needed to check the colt 
in his first disposition to go wrong. 



YOUR WILL AGAINST THE HORSE's WILL 



As the horse, in the practise of any vice, shows 
a rank disregard of his driver, the first step in 
its cure is to impress him, in a general way, with 
your supremacy and his own inability to resist 
you successfully. This you can never do by 
means of the whip or club. Whipping a horse 
punishes him, it is true, but it is powerless to 
compel him to do what you want and it also rouses 
his resentment in a way that makes his training 
all the more difficult. Remember that the first 
thing you are striving for is his complete subjec- 



CURE OF VICES 55 

tion, that nothing can be done till this is accom- 
plished, and that it must be accomplished, not by 
punishment, but hy a display of power. Fur- 
thermore, to succeed you must be very patient as 
well as persevering, always remembering that you 
are dealing with an intelligence inferior to your 
own and exemplifying the grand old Arab pro- 
verb " Fear and anger a good horseman never 
shows." 

In the treatment for kicking, the disposition 
to kick should, as far as possible, be taken out of 
the horse before he is harnessed. It is best to 
begin by laying him down a few times. A horse 
lying prone upon the ground is robbed of all his 
natural means of defense, and the knowledge that 
you can, at your pleasure, place him in this hum- 
ble and defenseless position has a very chastening 
effect on his mind. 

Having first selected a smooth piece of green- 
sward where he will not hurt himself, put on him 
a bridle and surcingle and strap up his near fore- 
foot with a breeching-strap — the short loop 
around his foot, between hoof and fetlock, and 
the long one over the upper part of his leg. Fas- 
ten one end of a long strap to the off forefoot 
below the fetlock, pass the other end up through 
the surcingle and take it in your right hand, the 
bridle-rein being in your left. Push the horse 



54 



THE HORSE 



sidewise and the moment he steps, pull sharply on 
the strap. This will bring him to his knees. 

If he is a horse of any spirit, he will generally 
make a valiant fight against this treatment, often 
springing high and plunging desperately, but, 
having the use of only his two hind legs, he soon 




Attaching the Straps for Throwing a Horse 

becomes wearied and rests with his knees on the 
ground. Now pull his head toward you and he 
will fall over the other way. By simply holding 
down his head, you can keep him on the ground as 
long as you please. 



CURE OF VICES 55 

Simple as all this sounds, the trainer needs his 
wits about him and must be alert of foot and eye, 
as well as hand. Sometimes, with a really bad 
horse, it takes some little time even to get the 
straps adjusted and the foot fastened up, and if 
the horse is large and strong, the trainer should 
have an assistant, the latter holding the horse's 
head by a long rein attached to the bridle, while 
the trainer handles only the foot-strap. 

When th^ horse has lain on the ground for a 
few minutes — long enough, say, for his brains to 
settle a bit — release the straps and let him get 
up. Then repeat the operation and keep on till 
he ceases to make much resistance and shows, by 
his altered demeanor, that he has lost confidence 
in himself. He is now ready to harness. In this 
proceed as follows: 

Have ready a strap one and one-half inches 
wide and eight inches long, with a ring sewed 
strongly into each end. Attach this firmly to 
the top of the bridle, so that the ring hangs just 
over the rosettes. Have an extra bit (a straight 
one, not joined) in your horse's mouth. Now 
take a strong cotton cord about as large as the 
little finger and, having one end in the breaking- 
cart, carry the other end forward through the oif 
terret, up through the off ring on your short 
strap, down through the off ring of the extra bit, 



56 



THE HORSE 



over the horse's nose, through the near ring of 
the extra bit, up through the near ring on the 
short strap, back through the near terret and 
there tie to the long end, so as to form a check- 
rein. Adjust this so as to keep the head at the 
proper elevation, rather low than high, but not 




How THE Controller Is Rigged 

too low. Tie a string from the top of the bridle 
down between the eyes to the cord where it goes 
over the nose, so that it will not slip down. 

Now, whenever the horse attempts to kick, pull 
sharply on the line and his nose will be twitched 
up in the air, rendering kicking impossible, for 



CURE OF VICES 57 

he cannot kick when his nose Is sufficiently ele- 
vated. It also has a fine moral effect on him that 
is very consoling to those who have seen him kick 
a buggy or two to pieces. The arrangement 
should be used till the horse shows no disposition 
whatever to kick and in this it is best to err on 
the side of safety, giving him time for the most 
thorough repentance. The cord is not at all in 
the driver's way and it does not hurt or irritate 
the horse in the least as long as he behaves. When 
it is finally left off, have a check-rein made on 
exactly the same principle and adjust it so as 
to keep his head at the same height. 

The device here described — which, for want of 
a better name, I call the " controller " — I first 
used some twenty years ago on an exceptionally 
bad runaway kicker, after having used several 
other contrivances which did not have quite the 
desired effect. I have since found it one of the 
very best means of control and correction, and 
I have used it with excellent results in the cure 
of other vices as well as kicking. 

THE KICKING HABIT IS CURABLE 

Kicking is very properly classed as one of the 
very worst of vices and yet I have not known a 
case that could not be cured. All that is neces- 



^8 THE HORSE 

sary is to apply the right treatment and to apply 
it intelligently and perseveringly. Some cases 
require much longer treatment than others, how- 
ever, and it is impossible to state how long it will 
take to cure any particular case. One filly, for 
instance, that came to me with an evil record 
took over three months of patient training before 
her disposition to kick was wholly eliminated. On 
the other hand, I once bought a four-year-old colt 
that had become a kicker when being broken and 
was considered so bad that his breaker gave up 
the job, yet a fortnight's treatment was all that 
was needed to render him perfectly safe and gentle. 

Many times — indeed generally — the tendency 
to kick is, in a large measure, cured at the very 
beginning of treatment. But the horse must still 
be used with his rigging on and watched carefully 
for a recurrence of the vice, and he cannot be con- 
sidered cured till a convincingly long period of 
good conduct, without even a hint of his vice, in- 
dicates that his reformation is permanent. 

Another device, which, if preferred, may be used 
for a while before using the controller may be 
prepared as follows: 

Proceed exactly as in arranging the controller, 
but, instead of tying the short end of the cord 
to the other behind the terrets, adjust it so that 
both ends are of equal length. Have a ring fas- 



CURE OF VICES 69 

tened to the back-strap of the harness at the point 
where the hip-straps, that support the breeching, 
cross it. Now run the two ends of the cord back 
through this ring and tie them, one on each side, 
to the crossbar of the shafts, being careful to 
adjust them so as to keep the horse's head quite 




When the Controller Is Rigged This Way It 
Will Act Automatically 

a little higher than is necessary with the con- 
troller, but not high enough to keep him unduly 
irritated. It will be seen that with this rigging 
whenever he attempts to kick he will punish him- 
self promptly and severely. 

I have not myself used this device very ^uch. 



60 THE HORSE 

usually preferring to use the controller from the 
first. But it is an excellent thing for the kicker's 
first few lessons in harness and is rather easier 
for the trainer, as it is self-acting. But when 
the horse has yielded to treatment, so that there 
is comparatively little danger of his making much 
further fight, tlie controller is better, as it is less 
harsh when not in operation and allows more 
freedom for the head. 

RUNNING AWAY 

For running away, unless accompanied by some 
other vice, simply put on the controller and bring 
the horse to a standstill whenever he attempts to 
run. The discovery that you have it in your 
power to stop him will have a very salutary effect 
upon him and it will not be long before his at- 
tempts to run will be much less frequent. The 
controller should be kept on him till he has gone 
long enough without showing any disposition to 
run to indicate that the habit is cured. This 
may take some time, but the treatment, to be ef- 
fective, must be thorough and, as already pointed 
out, the device does no harm and is not in the 
driver's v/slj. When you finally do discontinue 
it, use a four-ring bit with over-draw check-rein 
and continue to use it as long as you have the 



CURE OF VICES 61 

horse. He may never run again, but safety 
should be your motto and there is no bit so good 
for holding a horse. It has also the great ad- 
vantage of being an easy bit for the horse as long 
as he does not pull upon it — and this is a note- 
worthy feature, as you can never cure a vice or 
a bad habit if your means of correction are oper- 
ative at other times than when the vice is ex- 
hibited. 

I have purchased and used quite a number of 
runaway horses and have never had much trouble 
with them. Sometimes the inclination to run 
would show itself a little at intervals and, more 
frequently, it seemed to become wholly eliminated. 
But in the use of horses on the road there is often 
more to rearouse this vice than some others and 
I would repeat my recommendation that the use 
of the four-ring bit and over-draw check-rein be 
never discontinued on a runaway. 

BALKING 

Balking is not a dangerous vice, but of all equine 
short-comings, it is perhaps the most intensely 
aggravating. And yet the old proverb that 
" there is always good stuff in a balky horse " has 
some truth in it. Horses of superabundant nerv- 
ous energy are the kind that are by far the most 



62 THE HORSE 

likely to contract this vice. Dull, sluggish horses 
are not so subj ect to it. 

Balky horses, though all exhibiting the same 
vice, are of such different kinds — each one, ap- 
parently, having a different kink in his head — ^that 
it is impossible to tell, in the first place, which 
one of several kinds of treatment will work best. 
But there are so many cases in which palliative 
treatment is all that is needed that this should 
always be given a fair trial before coercive meas- 
ures are used. Use the horse horse-fashion and 
take his good conduct for granted and very often 
he will forget to balk. When he does, try to fool 
him by saying, " Whoa "; get out and adjust the 
harness or pick up his feet, one after another, as 
if looking for a lodged stone, and finally hammer 
on one of them with a stone, keeping it in your 
hand long enough to take his attention thoroughly 
and perhaps weary his other leg a little. Then 
get into the buggy as if everything were all right 
and start him up in the usual way. 

All this may work and it may not, but it is the 
first thing to try. I have had a great many balky 
horses and in quite a number of instances have 
applied no further remedy and have used them 
for years with no repetition of the vice. If pal- 
liative treatment is found insufficient, put on the 
controller and elevate the horse's nose whenever 



CURE OF VICES 



6S 



he stops. Hold it up strongly for a few seconds, 
then release the pressure and he will generally 
start. 

Should it be necessary to treat the horse still 
further, proceed as follows : 

Take the horse out of the shafts, strip off all 
of his harness, and put on an ordinary halter. 
Tie the hair of his tail into a hard knot. Now 




The Best Hitch for Tying a Horse's Head 

TO His Tail 

run the halter-rope through the hair above the 

knot, pulling his head well round toward his tail, 

and fasten by a half-turn and loop which can be 

undone by a single jerk. Now stand back from 

the horse, touch him behind with your whip, and 

he will begin to turn around in a circle. He will 

presently get very dizzy and, if not interfered 



64 THE HORSE 

with, will fall down. It is better not to go to 
this extreme, however, as in falling, he may injure 
himself; watch him sharply and the moment he 
is thoroughly dizzy untie the rope. Now har- 
ness him as quickly as possible, put him in the 
shafts — and drive on. I have not often found it 
necessary to whirl the horse in this way more than 
once to make him start, but in some rare instances 
it has to be repeated ; in such cases make him turn 
the other way. 

One point in respect to the whirling treatment 
can hardly be over-emphasized — it is essential to 
use a hitch that can be released instantly when 
the horse shows signs of tottering. If a knot 
is used that makes quick release impossible, the 
horse runs a chance of falling and straining him- 
self badly. The hitch shown in the diagram is 
the simplest and safest I have ever used. 

This whirling treatment is one of the very best 
means of breaking up a horse's confidence in him- 
self and it can often be used to advantage in the 
treatment for kicking or other vices. The secret 
of it — just as in laying a horse down — is that it 
impresses him powerfully with your supremacy. 
It shows him that you can handle him very roughly 
if you choose and that you can do so with apparent 
ease. After that recognition of your supremacy 
he has little inclination to defy you and, if al- 



CURE OF VICES 65 

ways handled quietly and with no display of tem- 
per or irritability, will soon come to yield the 
cheerful and unquestioning obedience that is so 
essential. 

There are very few horses that will not amply 
repay the time and trouble necessary to cure them 
of their vices ; in many cases It is making a useful 
and valuable animal of one that was formerly 
worthless. But the wise horseman will always 
bear It In mind that prevention is better than cure, 
for, although accidents wilt sometimes happen even 
with the best of management, the great majority 
of horses that have vices would never have con- 
tracted them if handled rightly from the first. 

Many bad habits are formed when the horse is 
newly broken and beginning to work. It Is then 
that he is getting his ideas of what he can and 
cannot do, and double vigilance is necessary to 
see that he does not make experiments in inde- 
pendence that will lead to vice. 

Too often, the young horse Is trusted too much, 
he is left standing, tied with a weak hitch-rope or 
perhaps without hitching at all, used by inexperi- 
enced drivers or be driven in a ram-shackle wagon, 
with an old harness tied together with strings. 
Vice can almost always be traced to bad manage- 
ment of some kind. It is a good while before a 
young horse Is fit to be used and trusted like an 



66 THE HORSE 

old one, and if this fact could be constantly borne 
in mind by those who use him, the proportion of 
accidents that happen and vices that are formed 
would be much less. 



CHAPTER V 



SHYING 



SHYING is a very common as well as an 
extremely objectionable vice, completely 
spoiling many otherAvise valuable horses — 
for there is neither pleasure nor safety in driving 
a bad shyer. It is first caused by genuine fear. 
In the majority of instances — in fact, always, ex- 
cept in the case of nervous or hysterical shyers- 
had the horse, from the first, been gradually ac- 
customed to the objects he fears and shown that 
they would not hurt him, he would never have be- 
come a shyer. 

The average colt, when being broken to har- 
ness, is constantly meeting some object that — in 
greater or less degree, according to his nature — 
excites his fear. Perhaps it is only a stump or 
a rock or a log by the roadside half concealed 
by the grass. A good horseman, in such a case, 
will be very patient, allowing the colt to stand 
still for a moment and look at the object of his 
fear, then moving him gradually a little nearer 
and convincing him that his fear is unfounded. 

67 



68 THE HORSE 

Every such experience renders the colt less nerv- 
ous and timid, for it increases his confidence in 
his driver. 

But, too often, the essential factors in the case 
are overlooked. The driver, knowing that the 
colt does not fear such objects in the pasture, 
foolishly assumes that he, therefore, ought not to 
fear them in the road — forgetting the entire nov- 
elty of the position and that, in the strangeness 
of his new experiences, the colt's excited imagina- 
tion readily transforms the log or stump into some 
great beast, ready to spring upon him. So the 
colt, instead of being shown his error in a ra- 
tional way, is presently engaged in a foolish tussle 
with his driver, and it is ten to one that, before it 
is over, the colt, in some measure, has got the best 
of it. This needless tussle and his partial victory 
he will afterward associate with the object of his 
fear, and he will not only feign terror of it when 
he has really got over his fear, but will be more 
likely to find fresh objects to shy at. 

To cure the shyer when his fear is genuine, 
there is no way but to do what should have been 
done in the first place; begin all over again, be 
both patient and resolute, and properly accustom 
him to all objects that he fears. When it is cer- 
tain that he is only feigning terror, coercive meas- 
ures must be used, for it is absolutely necessary 



SHYING 69 

that, in some way or other, the horse be got by 
the object. He will never be good for anything 
if allowed to turn around and retrace his steps. 
In many cases I have found a good whalebone whip 
and a four-ring bit all the adjuncts that were 
necessary. But generally speaking, the control- 
ler, described in the last chapter, affords the best 
means of treatment, for the horse is obliged to 
stand perfectly still when its pressure is applied, 
and when it is released he is frequently ready to 
pass quietly by. With reference to the whip, its 
use is so often abused that it is never to be recom- 
mended except to those who know exactly when 
and how to use it. 

The fact that the fear is sometimes real and 
sometimes assumed makes it especially difficult to 
give detailed instructions to fit any and everyj 
case. It is essential that the trainer know the 
one from the other and I find it almost impossible 
to describe the actions of the horse in each in- 
stance so that my reader can distinguish the dif- 
ference. And yet there is a difference, and a 
difference that anyone who has had much experi- 
ence with horses can readily perceive. In the 
assumed fright, the horse is acting a part and his 
actions do not ring true. 

It often happens that a horse fresh from the 
stable will shy at an object that he would scarcely 



70 THE HORSE 

notice when tired. This does not always prove 
that he is shamming — nor is it to be confounded 
with neurotic or hysterical shying, of which I will 
speak later. When fresh, his nerves are keyed 
up to such high tension — are all on such a tiptoe 
of expectancy, as it were — that the impression is 
telegraphed to the brain with lightning rapidity 
and an involuntary shrinking is the result. Later, 
when he is tired, the nervous action is slower. 

Although, as a general rule, it is preferable to 
drive a horse by an object that he fears rather 
than to lead him, there are a great many cases 
where the latter is necessary and it is highly im- 
portant to know how to do it. Strangely enough, 
this thing, which seems so simple, is almost in- 
variably done in the wrong way. Under the im- 
pression that the horse needs coaxing and per- 
suading, the ordinary driver will stand facing him 
and grasping the two reins close to the bit, walk 
sideways, constantly speaking words of encourage- 
ment as he endeavors to " work " the animal by 
the object. No wonder the horse believes the oc- 
casion a momentous one. From his driver's be- 
havior he is led to believe he must nerve himself 
to pass some terrible object. 

Now the right way is this: Grasp the near 
rein in your right hand about a foot from the bit. 
Now, holding it firmly, but looking right before 



SHYING 71 

you and paying no apparent attention to the 
horse, walk on in a nonchalant way — ^just as if the 
circumstances were nothing out of the ordinary 
and you assume, as a matter of course, that your 
horse will follow quietly. If your previous atti- 
tude toward him has been such as to win his con- 
fidence, he will do so, for he is taking close note 
of your behavior and is satisfied by it that he has 
nothing to fear. 

NEUROTIC SHYING 

It happens not infrequently that people owning 
highly-bred horses are puzzled and annoyed by a 
vice — usually shying or bolting — which is mani- 
fested only occasionally. A horse, for instance, 
is thoroughly accustomed to automobiles and you 
have driven him on perhaps twenty occasions 
when he has shown no fear of them. But on the 
twenty-first he evinces the most extreme terror, 
shying badly or perhaps even bolting over the 
roadside wall. That the fear is genuine is evident 
to an experienced horseman and the vice is tenfold 
worse in that we never know when to expect it. 

This vice (for which the horse is not to blame) 
is really an hysterical outbreak, and though the 
shyer of this class may be held in check at the 
time by some such device as the controller, we 



72 THE HORSE 

must, in order to effect a real cure, go beyond 
any mere coercive treatment and look for the 
cause of the trouble where it really is — in the 
nervous system. The way in which this nervous 
disorder operates may be illustrated by a phase in 
human nature familiar to all. 

A boy is afraid of the dark, although he knows 
his fear is foolish and that there is nothing to hurt 
him. He goes into a dark cellar twenty or thirty 
times, always holding his unreasoning fear in 
check by an effort of his will. But there comes 
a time when, his nervous mechanism not being in 
as good order as usual, his fear gets the best of 
him and he makes a mad rush for the door. He 
knows there is nothing in pursuit, but he has lost 
his self-control and is in as abject fear as though 
menaced by a real danger. 

The case of the neurotic shyer is of like kind. 
The horse has learned that the object he once 
feared will not hurt him, but the association of 
ideas is such that a slight effort of his will is nec- 
essary, each time he passes it, to hold his fear in 
check. But some day, when his nerves are a trifle 
out of order, even this slight effort becomes im- 
possible. 

I have owned and also treated for others a num- 
ber of neurotic shyers and bolters, and they were 
all horses that had a large percentage of warm 



SHYING 73 

blood. The trouble is not one that cold-blooded 
horses are liable to. 

This vice is of so peculiar a nature and so many 
horses are never cured of it — at least during the 
best years of their lives — that its cure might seem, 
at first blush, a difficult matter. But, once under- 
stood, there is no trouble in ellPecting a cure and 
the treatment is extremely simple, consisting only 
in judicious feeding accompanied by work — work, 
the natural and God-appointed medicine that has 
reformed more vices and taken the nonsense out 
of more horses and men and women than any 
other agency since the world began. I do not 
mean excessive or unduly hard labor, such as 
breaks the spirit of a horse, nor occasional severe 
journeys, followed by a period of rest, but daily, 
unremitting work in harness or saddle or even 
light farm work, such as plowing old ground, if 
the horse is large and strong enough. 

That the reasonableness of this treatment may 
be fully understood, let us look, for a moment, at 
the nervous system of the highly-bred horse and 
the purpose it serves. This nervous system — far 
more highly developed than in the cart-horse — is 
what gives him his reserve force, his staying 
power. It is not bone and sinew that keeps him 
going at the end of a hard race, but nervous 
energy. The common horse gets tired and quits ; 



74 THE HORSE 

the thoroughbred also gets tired, but he keeps on. 

This wonderful piece of mechanism gets out of 
order in a horse dawdling in stable or paddock. 
But give the horse plenty to do and his nervous 
machinery again becomes healthy and runs 
smoothly. 

The feeding in neurotic cases has also a direct 
bearing upon the end in view. The chemical ele- 
ment that nourishes the nervous system is phos- 
phorus. Therefore, when the nervous system is 
performing its proper work, there is little danger 
of giving the horse a food too rich in this element ; 
but when the nervous system has no chance to 
spend its energy, the excess of nerve-food be- 
comes hurtful, rather than beneficial. The horse- 
foods which contain the largest percentage of 
phosphorus are oats and barley, and that is why 
these grains put so much life into a horse. Next 
in order comes Southern corn. Northern corn 
contains little phosphorus, but a large amount of 
carbon, and hence it is a sleepy food, making a 
horse fat and lazy. 

The knowledge of these facts should be turned 
to practical account in feeding. In the earlier 
stages of treatment the neurotic horse should be 
deprived of a portion of his oats, substituting a 
proper ration of Northern corn. Usually a 
slight change in this respect is enough to produce 



SHYING 75 

the desired result, and in a short time, as treat- 
ment progresses, his full ration of oats should be 
restored. For he will need an abundance of life- 
giving food if given the constant work that his 
case requires, and it must be remembered that it 
is upon work that we depend chiefly for a cure. 
The dieting simply slows up the nerve-machine a 
little and relieves the strain till the more im- 
portant treatment begins to have its effect. 

PULLING BACK ON THE HALTER 

Pulling back on halter is a very provoking 
vice. It always originates in the horse breaking 
(usually by accident) a weak halter-rope, after 
which he will try every new halter and every new 
place where he is tied. Not only that, but a con- 
firmed halter-puller, after being tied with a halter 
that he cannot break and standing quietly for 
weeks in the same place, will suddenly and with no 
apparent reason make a fresh attempt to break 
away. 

The first thing to do, of course, is to have a 
strong halter, and the rope should be of extra 
length. If the horse is then tied very high, he 
will soon give up the habit. I have frequently 
tied such horses to a ring attached to the ceiling — 
though this extreme height is not really neces- 



76 THE HORSE 

sary; a foot or two above the horse's head is all 
that is needed. The ring should be well forward 
of the head of the stall and the rope just long 
enough to permit the horse, to lie down. If placed 
immediately over his head, it will allow him to 
back too far out of his stall, where he may kick 
his neighbors or otherwise get into mischief. 

Another good way is to have a long rope on the 
halter and have the hitching-ring exactly in the 
middle of the front of the stall, pretty high up. 
Carry the end of the rope through the ring back 
between the horse's fore legs and tie it rather 
tightly around his body, having the knot exactly 
underneath. He will not pull back many times 
with this arrangement. But while an excellent 
lesson to the horse is thus administered, the 
method is not very convenient for regular use and 
the single strong halter-rope, tied high, as recom- 
mended above, is more satisfactory as a steady 
thing. 

KICKING IN THE STALL 

If the horse is vicious and kicks at any one who 
attempts to enter his stall, he must be subdued and 
the disposition to kick taken out of him by the 
methods recommended for kickers in harness. But 
if, as is more often the case, he has simply formed 



SHYING 77 

the habit of kicking at the side of his stall differ- 
ent measures must be used. 

The simplest method and one which, in the 
majority of cases, is as good as any is to fasten 
a plank or timber securely across the stall about 
an inch above the horse's hips. With this ar- 
rangement he cannot kick, as, the moment he at- 
tempts to throw up his hind parts, he is checked 
and disconcerted by the plank. 

TAIL SWITCHING 

This habit is always unpleasant and sometimes 
very dangerous, as some horses will throw their 
tails clear over the reins and then kick or run or 
both. The best plan is to tie down the horse's 
tail whenever he is driven and keep this up for 
several months, if necessary, until he forgets the 
habit. Make a few strands of hair on the inside 
of his tail into a braid about the size of a clothes- 
line and finish it in such a way that it will not 
come undone. Pass a shoe-string through this 
braid and tie it firmly to the breeching. This ar- 
rangement will effectually stop the switching and 
is so inconspicuous that the majority of people 
will not notice it. This scheme is applicable in 
all cases where tail-switching is strongly estab- 
lished. 



78 THE HORSE 

Make it a point also to be very quiet and gentle 
with the animals that have this habit, both in the 
stable and when using thcni. Be deliberate in 
your movements and do not speak to the horse 
loudly or harshly. Tail switching indicates a 
nervous irritability, and the less that is done to 
rouse this, the quicker will be the cure. A few 
years ago I bought a young mare who had the 
habit and in a few months she got entirely over 
it with no treatment whatever, except using her 
gently and " horse fashion." 

The methods I have here recommended for the 
cure of different vices are those which I have found 
the best and most efficacious ; they are simple and 
can be applied by any one else as well as myself. 
If carefully studied they will, I think, furnish the 
key to the treatment for the cure of any that are 
not mentioned here. But however carefully I 
may explain their working and the principle on 
which they depend, much after all must depend on 
the trainer and I feel that I cannot urge too 
strongly or too frequently upon my reader the 
necessity for patience, resolution, and self-con- 
trol. 



CHAPTER VI 

STABLING AND FEEDING 

COMPARATIVELY few of those who own 
horses build their stables new from the 
start, with all the features that may be 
most desirable for the purpose; the majority are 
constrained to keep their horses in such buildings 
as they may chance to have. In the matter of 
stabling, therefore, I shall mention only the points 
of most importance. 

For its chief requisites the stable should be 
light, warm, and dry, with means for extra ventila- 
tion when needed. All these features can be had 
in any ordinary barn and do not necessitate much 
expense; costly stable appointments do not add 
to the comfort of the horse and are always a sec- 
ondary consideration. It is exceedingly desirable 
to have box stalls if space will permit. Indeed, so 
highly do I value them that in many instances I 
have had them built at the expense of space that 
was needed for other things. Of course, horses 
can be kept successfully in standing stalls, but 
box stalls are to be preferred when they can be 
had. 

79 



80 THE HORSE 

The box stall should be ten feet square and may 
be built with or without a floor, as is most con- 
venient. In either case, its bottom should be 
filled to the depth of from four to six inches with 
fine gravel or coarse sand, which should be re- 
plenished from time to time, and above this a layer 
of straw or other litter should be spread at night. 
A certain amount of the sand will be taken up 
every time the stall is cleaned; this should be re- 
placed with fresh sand. In this way the sand 
never becomes foul and it forms the best of all 
bottoms for box stalls. It is pleasant for the 
horse to stand on and keeps his feet in fine, 
healthy condition. This feature alone makes the 
box stall worth while, even if it had no other ad- 
vantages. 

The standing stall, on the other hand, should 
always have a floor. I know that some very good 
authorities recommend an earth floor, rather than 
a wooden one, as being easier to stand on and 
furnishing needed moisture for the feet, and 
theoretically this is all right. But in actual 
practice the horse invariably wears out and paws 
away a hollow place where his fore feet stand and 
his hind feet are almost certain to be much of the 
time in a quagmire of dung. 

A wealthy amateur who had just purchased a 
farm and had asked me some advice about his 



STABLING AND FEEDING 81 

stables took exception to my recommendation 
that the standing stalls have floors. " Floors 
are wrong in principle," he said, " and so must 
be wrong in practice " ; and he had his stalls built 
without them. In less than a month from the 
time they were first used they were in such condi- 
tion that he was obliged to have floors put in. 
The same thing has doubtless happened in many 
other instances and simply goes to show that a 
thing may be absolutely right in theory and yet 
not work out well in practice. 

I have used both standing and box stalls all my 
life, and on most farms it will be generally most 
convenient to have both. The special desirability 
of the box stall is for growing colts and for horses 
that are not used regularly. For horses that are 
used every day the standing stall is more con- 
venient and serves every purpose. 

In feeding, no hard and fast rules can be laid 
down; both kind and quantity must be according 
to circumstances and the judgment of the feeder. 
A great many horses are injured by being fed too 
generously when idle, or comparatively so, just 
as a great many are hurt by being worked or 
driven hard on light rations. Moreover, certain 
grains are more available than others in almost 
every locality and this, too, must be considered 
in feeding. Upon my own land, for instance, oats 



82 THE HORSE 

are an uncertain crop, while barley does well and 
I have found the latter, fed in proper quantities, 
an excellent substitute for oats — though nothing, 
in my opinion, is quite as good as oats for hard 
work, whether fast or slow. On the other hand 
oats, splendid feed as they are, are not as good as 
corn and bran for horses that are little used. In 
fact, conditions must always be considered in 
feeding. It may be of help to the reader, how- 
ever, to know the feeds that I ha»ve found the best 
under these conditions which more ordinarily 
obtain. 

(1) If a horse is doing excessively hard work, 
whether fast or slow, feed a heavy ration of oats 
and no other grain. There is little danger of 
feeding too much. If he can rest on Sunday, give 
him, on Saturday evening, a bran-mash instead of 
his oats. 

(2) If a horse is standing idle a great deal of 
the time, feed him little or no oats or whole corn, 
but feed bran, with a little corn-meal mixed with 
it — one part of corn-meal to two or three parts 
of bran, according to conditions. 

(3) For old horses, especially if out of condi- 
tion, feed a mixture of one quart each of corn- 
meal, bran, and molasses. This ration may be fed 
at night and at morning and if the horse is work- 
ing, feed oats at noon. It is best to begin with a 



STABLING AND FEEDING 83 

smpJler quantity of molasses — say, a pint — and 
work up gradually to a quart. 

There is nothing equal to molasses for getting a 
run-down horse in condition and for this purpose 
it may often be fed to young horses as well as old. 

(4) For horses used under all ordinary condi- 
tions feed corn in the morning, oats at noon, and 
oats at night. Two quarts of shelled corn are 
enough, and the oat ration may range from two 
quarts to four quarts at a feed, according to the 
amount of work the horse is doing. 

For forage, good, sweet hay must be the main 
dependence. As a general thing, too much hay is 
fed to road-horses, especially in the country. 
From ten to eighteen pounds, according to the 
horse and the grain he is getting, is enough; per- 
haps twelve pounds would more often proAe the 
right quantity tha,n any other. But it must be 
remembered that will be sufficient only when he is 
receiving a good grain ration; when only a little 
grain is fed, the hay ration must be much greater. 
If hay is only sweet and nicely cured, I have never 
been able to discover that its coarseness or fineness 
made the slightest difference. Hay that is mowed 
rather late — say, just as it is going out of bloom 
— is better for horses than that which is mowed 
earlier. 

Good, bright corn-fodder, run through a cut- 



84 THE HORSE 

ting machine, also makes a fine forage feed for 
horses, equal, under right conditions, to the best 
hay and often better relished. Fodder containing 
smut, however, should never be fed to horses. In 
parts of the Southern States the leaves are 
stripped from the stalk and cured by themselves. 
As this fodder contains no ears it is, of course, al- 
ways entirely free from smut and, as a forage feed 
for horses, it has no superior. 

Do not forget that water is as important for 
horses as feed and that, however well you may 
feed, your horses will not do well if they do not 
have what water they want and have it regularly. 
They should be watered three times a day. Salt 
is also an important thing, though, if a horse has 
it always by him, he will consume only a little. A 
lump of rock salt should be kept always in the 
manger. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE COLT^S KINDERGARTEN TRAINING 

OUR care in the development of the colt 
should begin before he is foaled. His 
dam should be generously fed, have a com- 
fortable stable (a box stall whenever practicable), 
and plenty of exercise. The work to which she is 
put, whether on the farm or the road, should be as 
regular as possible. It should not be unduly 
severe, however, nor too long continued at a time. 
If she has to pull a load, care should be taken to 
have her harnessed properly, so that the traces, 
pole, or shafts do not press too much against her 
sides. But any inconvenience that this may in- 
volve should not prevent her being used; exercise 
is essential and, if properly safeguarded, will 
cause no bad results. Often my own mares have 
been used almost to the very day of foaling. 

But, aft^r foaling, the best thing for both mare 
and foal is to cease work and turn them out in 
some good pasture where there is water. The 
mare will give more milk and the foal will do better 
in this way than any other — so much better, in 

85 



86 THE HORSE 

fact, that nothing but necessity should ever pre- 
vent its being done. If it is really necessary to 
use the mare, a roomy box stall should be provided 
where the colt may remain during his dam's ab- 
sence. This box stall should not be a ramshackle 
affair that the colt will try to get out of or in 
which he can get tangled up in any way. It should 
be strong and the sides both smooth and high. If 
two colts are being raised at the same time, both 
can be confined in the same stall. They will be 
quieter and better contented — and therefore will 
do better — than one alone. 

If the mare is worked, she should be generously 
fed — and even if she is not, it often pays to give 
her some grain. If she is not bred again and is 
running in pasture, she may do very well and give 
plenty of milk on grass alone, provided, of course, 
that the grass is abundant and of good quality. 
But if, as is commonly done, she is immediately 
bred again, the feeding is of increased importance 
and should never be neglected when it seems to be 
needed, for she is performing the double duty of 
feeding the foal at her side and the foal she is 
carrying. 

It is an excellent plan to give the mare her oats 
in such a way that the colt can get his nose into 
the manger. In this way he will soon learn to eat 
with her. The foolish business of " teaching him 



THE COLTS TRAINING 87 

to eat " will be done away with and he will be in 
better shape for weaning when the time comes 
for it. 

In this latter operation I need hardly say that 
separating the mare and colt by the length of a 
stable or the area of a barn-yard where, though 
out of each other's sight, they can still hear and 
recognize each other's voices is, of all ways, the 
worst. It is an unhorsemanlike performance and 
subjects both mare and colt to a great deal of 
needless uneasiness and worry. The way com- 
monly followed by good horsemen is to place them 
at once so far apart that they can not, by any 
possibility, hear each other's cries. On a great 
many farms, however, either from lack of suitable 
buildings or some other reason, this is not prac- 
ticable. 

A method that I have found very satisfactory in 
a great many cases is to use the mare frequently 
during the last week or so that the colt is with her, 
leaving him at home, so as to gradually accustom 
them both to separation. Then I wean by 
putting the colt in a box stall immediately ad- 
joining the mare's, where he can see her and even 
touch noses with her through the bars. In this 
way, though prevented from sucking, he still has 
her companionship; neither of them is exactly 
suited with the situation, but they find it at least 



88 THE HORSE 

tolerable and they very soon become accustomed 
to it and entirely contented. With the drying 
up of the mare's milk and her continued use in 
harness, which keeps her much away from the 
colt, she soon loses her interest in him and he can 
then be removed to some distant pasture with 
very little protest on his part or hers. 

The care and common sense that should be ob- 
served in weaning should be continued afterward; 
at the risk of being accused of repetition, I may 
say here that in raising horses, far more than in 
any other stock, constant care and watchfulness 
are necessary. Colts should not run in pasture 
with older stock, but be turned into a field by them- 
selves. Where only one colt is being raised, this 
is not always practicable; but he can, at least, be 
turned out with only one or two horses, with 
which he is well acquainted, and thus the danger 
of his getting hurt will be greatly lessened. As 
a rule, horses are not very inimical to a young 
colt, even when he is new to them ; more often they 
are friendly and disposed to play with the young- 
ster. But horse play is proverbially rough play 
and, with companions so much older and stronger 
than himself, he is exceedingly liable to get hurt. 

In wintering the colt it is not wise to feed very 
much corn; oats and bran are the right grains to 
use. A little corn-meal mixed with the bran, how- 



THE COLTS TRAINING 89 

ever, helps to keep the colt in order and does no 
harm. From weaning-tlme and during the first 
winter I have had the best success in feeding oats, 
and the two winters following, oats in the morning 
and a supper of bran, with a little corn-meal added. 
It is hard to give any fixed rule as to quantity, as 
much depends upon the quality of the hay (of 
which the colt should have all he wants) and also 
what object the breeder has in view. If his aim 
is to sell the colt at an early age — say as a year- 
ling or two-year-old — a very liberal grain ration 
will, of course, make the colt larger and smoother 
at that age. But inordinate feeding, even if of 
so good a grain as oats, is not natural and under 
ordinary circumstances is unwise. 

It seems almost needless to add that the colt 
should be wintered in a box stall and also allowed 
to run out for exercise every day when conditions 
are suitable. As a necessary part of his training 
he should be taught to stand quietly in a standing 
stall and for this purpose he should be tied at 
first and for a long while thereafter with a rope 
that he cannot break ; but the box stall should be 
his regular quarters. 

The operation of castration is best performed 
when the colt is about one year old. I have fre- 
quently been asked what is the best method. I 
am rather reluctant to reply to this query be- 



90 THE HORSE 

cause in different parts of the country different 
methods are in vogue, and — assuming, of course, 
that the method is one of the approved ones that 
are practised by reputable veterinary surgeons — 
it is usually better to follow the custom of the lo- 
cality. This much, however, can be said that the 
operation should always be performed by a skilled 
veterinary surgeon or by some one who has had 
sufficient experience to work skilfully and to know 
exactly what he is about. I am not saying that 
there is not a choice in the different methods, for 
I think there is. But the operator is more likely 
to succeed in doing a thing as he has always done 
it and seen it done than in some way that is new 
to him. 

Following castration the colt should be kept in 
a roomy box stall at night and turned out in a 
good pasture every day — for grass is the very best 
medicine for him during his recovery. He should 
not be out in the rain, however, nor in chilly 
weather, and every morning and night he should 
have a feed of oats and bran. This care and at- 
tention should continue till the inflammation of 
the parts has subsided and the wound entirely 
healed. 

The details of breaking the colt to harness will 
be given in another chapter. When he is old 
enough to put to some use — say three or four 



THE COLTS TRAINING 91 

years old, though his strength should not be taxed 
very severely until he is five — he should be accus- 
tomed to his work gradually, and, as he is still in 
the formative stage, the tasks to which he is set 
should be chosen with regard to the good they will 
do him rather than his owner. In this connection 
one of the best things in the world for a colt is 
light work on a farm. It tends, more than any- 
thing else does, to make him gentle, for the colt 
that is accustomed to the swinging and rattling 
of the plow whiffletrees around his heels is not so 
likely to be ticklish around his hind parts if any- 
thing happens when in carriage. 

A year or two ago, as I was driving down a 
long hill with a pair of four-year-old colts, the 
carriage pole, which was new and had an unsus- 
pected flaw in it, snapped in two in the middle and 
the carriage ran into their heels. Though, nat- 
urally, they were a little alarmed, they made no 
fuss about it, but stood quietly while I checked 
the wheels and got them clear of the wreckage. 
These colts had been used in plowing old ground 
and also in harrowing, though I gave them very 
little of the latter on account of its greater sever- 
ity. There is a notion, sufficiently prevalent, that 
carriage or trotting stock ought not to be set to 
these humble tasks, but should have all their train- 
ing and exercise on the road. I have never hesi- 



9S THE HORSE 

tated to put my most finely-bred carriage colts 
to farm work, indeed have sometimes gone to con- 
siderable inconvenience to do so. 

Of course, judgment must be used. I have 
rarely kept a colt (unless of draft stock) at the 
plow more than two or three hours and at the har- 
row a still shorter time. The main thing, as al- 
ready stated, is not the work we get out of him, 
but the steadying and civilizing effect that it has 
upon him. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE EDUCATION OF THE COLT 

IT IS as true of our colts as it is of our boys 
and girls that in their development and edu- 
cation a great many mistakes are made. 
They are misunderstood; driven when they ought 
to be led and led when they ought to be driven; 
often cruelly punished when not to blame, or al- 
lowed to defy us with impunity when wholesome 
correction is needed. But there is less excuse 
for these errors of judgment when dealing with 
colts, for, although we might, perhaps, be sup- 
posed to understand human nature, intuitively, we 
most assuredl}^ do not; and, as equine nature is 
less complicated than human, it is easier to learn 
to understand it. 

In a previous chapter I have pointed out some 
of the limitations of horse nature, the horse's way 
of reasoning almost wholly from experience, and 
how all really scientific training is based upon 
taking advantage of these limitations. In the case 
of the unbroken colt, two other things should al- 
ways be remembered: First, that horses are, by 

93 



94 THE HORSE 

nature, timid animals and, second, that in a natural 
state they are gregarious in their habits. When, 
therefore, we put a lot of straps and buckles on a 
colt, of the use of which he has no comprehension, 
and essay to drive him, alone and separate from 
his kind, among trolley-cars, automobiles, and 
other objects that would naturally terrify him, 
it will be seen that we are straining his nature a 
long way from its starting-point and that we 
should make due allowance for the fact. 

The best time to break the colt to harness is 
when he is from one to two years old. Of course, 
if broken at this tender age, he is not — especially 
if a road-horse — fit to be put to much work when 
his education is completed, and care must also be 
taken not to injure him in the process; but he 
seems to learn more easily and is easier handled 
than when he is older and, once well broken, he can 
be again turned out to pasture with no danger of 
forgetting what he has learned. 

EARLY BREAKING IS EASY BREAKING 

To those who have had much experience in this 
line, the advantages of breaking young are so 
manifest as to require no argument. There are 
some, however, who admit it freely, but do not 
practise it through fear of hurting the colt. 



EDUCATION OF THE COLT 95 

There is no danger of this, if the matter is gone 
about as it should be. Of my own colts, for in- 
stance, I never had a single one injured by early 
breaking. On the other hand, it is almost always 
much harder to break a nearly-matured or fully 
matured horse, though, of course, this varies with 
different individuals, according to breed, tempera- 
ment, and disposition. 

A few years ago a fine five-year-old mare, a 
beautiful animal, trotting-bred, was brought to 
me to be broken. She had cost her owner consid- 
erable money and he told me he was so choice of 
her that he did not have her broken earlier for 
fear she might be injured in some way. She was 
handled carefully, but she was large and strong 
and her temper none of the best, and before the 
job was finished coercive measures had to be used. 
And if her owner could have seen the stiff figlit 
that she put up when certain straps and rigging 
were put on her, I think he could hardly have sup- 
posed that she was in less danger of hurting her- 
self than if handled when younger. 

I might multiply examples, for I have handled 
quite a number of fully-matured horses that, for 
some reason, had never been broken. As I have 
already intimated, if the horse is naturally tract- 
able and gentle, it makes less difference at what 
age he is broken. But it is pretty hard to tell 



96 THE HORSE 

beforehand just how a colt will act when being 
broken, and it is a principle recognized by train- 
ers of animals of all kinds that the training is 
best done when the animal is quite young. 

Before taking up the details of breaking let me 
lay down two important rules: 

First — Always have all your rigging so strong 
and well-adjusted that the colt cannot, by any 
possibility, get the advantage of you. 

Second — Make your lessons short and of fre- 
quent repetition. 

The philosophy of the first rule will be appar- 
ent, I think, to all who have read my observations 
on the horse's nature in previous chapters. For 
that of the second, with the colt, as with the child, 
the too-long lesson wearies him and benumbs his 
brain ; it is the frequency of successfully adminis- 
tered lessons that makes the strongest impression 
on his mind. But remember that they must be 
successfully administered. If you have a differ- 
ence of opinion with your colt, persevere until he 
yields to your will; then at once cease training 
and put him up in the stable with the impression 
of your supremacy and his submission fresh in his 
mind. Be very gentle with him now, make him as 
comfortable as you can, give him a little hay, and, 
as soon as he is cool enough, a little grain. Then, 
after a couple of hours, take him out and repeat 



EDUCATION OF THE COLT 97 

the lesson. He will yield much quicker this time; 
and if the rule is faithfully followed, it rarely re- 
quires more than three or four lessons to make 
his obedience both prompt and implicit. 

Remember that, as a general thing, the colt 
does not fail to do your will from any inherent de- 
sire to oppose or defy you, but because he does 
not understand what you want. The whole thing 
is new and meaningless to him. The average colt 
will do cheerfully what you want him to, provided 
only that it is made clear to him what it is, and 
also that he has nothing to fear. But there is so 
much difference in colts, both in natural docility 
and in quickness of perception, that all cannot 
be handled alike, and if you have a colt that seems 
rather stubborn and slow to understand, your 
cue is to require but very little of him at a time — 
and stick to that little till you gain it. Then, at 
the next lesson, require a little more. Indeed, by 
following this rule — little by little, one thing at a 
time and oft-repeated lessons — you may often 
break a rather refractory colt in less time than 
you could a more promising pupil if cruder meth- 
ods were to be used. 

The first step in the education of the colt is 
bitting. In this matter some strange notions 
seem to have got afoot and some weird and curious 
machinery for carrying them out. I remember. 



98 THE HORSE 

when a boy, seeing a colt wearing an imported 
" bitting gear " that held his head rigidly in a 
strained and uncomfortable position throw himself 
down in sheer pain and desperation, while his 
breaker — a bull-headed Englishman, imported, like 
the " bitting gear," and master of stables for the 
colt's millionaire owner — looked calmly on and 
observed, " 'E's a bit stubborn, but 'e'U give hup 
bimeby." 

It is such brutal performances as this that, in 
greater or less degree, have always disgraced the 
profession of horsemanship and, although there 
has undoubtedly been some improvement in such 
matters, the strange idea is still held by many 
otherwise sensible people that the most finely- 
formed and delicately-organized of all our do- 
mestic animals should be entrusted to the care of 
the ignorant, the coarse, and the stupid. 

Now what is the process of bitting for? Sim- 
ply to teach the horse to obey the rein and yield, 
in a proper degree, to the pressure upon the bit. 
To do this you need no " bitting gear," imported 
or otherwise, and need go to no expense beyond 
the purchase of a piece of cotton rope the size of 
your little finger for the first lessons, and for later 
ones a common jointed bit, rather thicker than 
usual at the ends. 

For the first series of lessons proceed as foN 



EDUCATION OF THE COLT 



99 



lows: Take the cord (which, to serve all jour pur- 
poses, should be about twenty feet long) and 
make a fixed loop in one end of the right size to 
go over the colt's head and fit, pretty snug, where 




Arrangement for Accustoming the Colt to the 
Bit and Making His Mouth Flexible 

the collar is worn. Carry the end of the cord 
forward, on the off side, through the colt's mouth, 
and back through the loop on the near side. Now 
pull gently but firmly upon the cord and his 



100 THE HORSE 

mouth will be drawn back toward his breast. 
Hold for a few seconds, then release and presently 
repeat. Continue these exercises, with an occa- 
sional respite for rest, for ten minutes or so. 
Then put him up in the stable and after an hour 
or two repeat the lesson. The object of this 
treatment is to teach him to give up to pressure 
on his mouth and also to render his neck flexible. 
The lessons should be repeated, at intervals, for 
several days, until he gets used to them. You are 
now ready to put on his bridle. 

For this purpose all you need is an ordinary 
bridle without blinders. The bit, as already 
stated, should be thicker than usual at its ends, 
as such a bit is easier and much less likely to make 
the mouth sore. If it cannot be procured at the 
stores, a skilful blacksmith can make one ; in such 
case, see to it that the work is nicely done and the 
bit finished perfectly smooth, for otherwise you 
will lose more than you gain. Tie one end of your 
line into the near side of the bit, hold the other 
end in your hand, and, with a long buggy whip, 
make the colt go around you in a circle. Shift 
to the other side from time to time, making him 
go around the other way. In a few days you can 
harness him and drive him about the yard, using 
your cord for reins. 

To get a colt nicely bitted is an important part 



EDUCATION OF THE COLT 101 

of his education, and it should be carefully done. 
It should not be hurried too much, and if the colt's 
mouth begins to get sore, wash it frequently with 
dioxygen. 

The colt's first lessons on the road should be 
in double harness beside some old and perfectly 
gentle horse. In this way he more easily gets ac- 




This Arrangement of the Foot-line Is Simple 
AND Effective 

customed to the sight of the revolving wheels and 
the other novel features of the situation. After 
a half-dozen lessons of this kind he will be ready 
for the breaking cart. This should have long 
shafts and it is better, for at least the first few 
lessons, to have a foot-line on the colt. This 
need be nothing more nor less than the same cord 



102 THE HORSE 

you have used in bitting him tied to one fore foot 
before the fetlock, passed over the girth, and back 
into the cart. With this, if the colt tries to kick 
or run away, you have the means of stopping him 
at once by pulling up his foot and placing him 
upon three legs ; it has this additional advantage 
that, while it greatly disconcerts him and robs 
him of his self-confidence, it does not hurt him 
nor rouse his resentment. 

I have known horse-breakers to object to it on 
the plea that it may throw the colt down, but I 
have used it many years and have never known 
this to occur or any other injury to result from 
its use. The controller (described in a previous 
chapter) affords an equally certain means of con- 
trol and on some specially intractable colts it may 
be found useful. But in ordinary cases, where 
the foot-line is merely a safeguard and is not for 
the correction of any confirmed vice, it makes a 
little less rigging to put on the colt and is fully 
as satisfactory to use. 

A great many colts are spoiled by the breaker 
being in too great a hurry to get them into a 
four-wheeled vehicle. The colt should be used 
a long time in the breaking-cart and got thor- 
oughly handy before harnessing to a buggy ; then 
there is little danger in it. 

As a general rule, one is liable to be a little 



EDUCATION OF THE COLT 103 

too anxious to get the colt to work. Quite aside 
from chances of overstrain in the case of animals 
that are broken when immature, it is safer to let 
the colt acquire his working habits gradually. 

It is hardly possible and perhaps needless for 
me to take up all the minor points in breaking; 
on one matter, however, I think I should say a few 
words, and that is in teaching the colt to back, 
I have often heard breakers say that " it takes a 
year to teach a colt to back properly " ; whereas 
it can be taught readily in half an hour and I 
have often taught it in ten minutes. I may per- 
haps be excused for pointing out that there is 
some difference between ten minutes and a year. 
The best time to teach it is early in his training, 
before he has been harnessed to the cart, 

TEACHING THE COLT TO BACK 

Standing behind the colt, with the reins in your 
hands, pull back strongly but steadily upon them, 
saying " Back, back." Of course, the colt does 
not know what you mean, and he bears hard against 
the bit, often with his legs straddled out and resist- 
ing your backward pull as hard as he can. In a 
little while, however, to relieve himself from the 
painful pressure on his mouth, he takes a reluctant 
and half-unconscious step backward. This is 



104 THE HORSE 

what you have been carefully watching for, and at 
the very instant that he shows this partial yield- 
ing to your will, release the pressure on his mouth. 
Now repeat it; he will respond a little quicker 
this time and you cannot be too careful to release 
the pressure the instant he complies. In this 
way, in a surprisingly short time, you will be able 
to back him any distance you please. 

Now the great difference between this method 
and the methods (if so they can be called) that 
are generally practised is that, in this, you have 
shown the colt just what you wanted him to do; 
while in the lesson, as it is usually attempted to 
be taught, the colt can hardly suppose otherwise 
than that his trainer is trying to drag him back- 
ward by the reins — a thing that he naturally re- 
sents and that the trainer is manifestly unable to 
do. That in spite of such crude methods the ma- 
jority of horses do learn to back is proof of their 
high intelligence, for they have learned what has 
not been taught them in any sane or rational way. 

And this brings me to a matter of which I have 
often thought — the fact that despite the crudity 
and, too often, the barbarity of the methods em- 
ployed in training, the great majority of our colts 
grow up into good, useful horses, just as the ma- 
jority of our boys and girls, despite the many 
mistakes in their training, grow up into good, 



EDUCATION OF THE COLT 105 

useful men and women. It has been said that this 
is owing to the grace of God, rather than to any 
wise management on the part of man; and in a 
certain sense, this is doubtless true, for, by the 
term, we must understand the grace which under- 
lies all physical and social evolution, causing the 
survival of that which is fittest and best and the 
ultimate domination of good over evil. But bad 
handling, nevertheless, causes a great deal of evil 
that would not otherwise exist; it is cruel as well 
as unscientific and responsible for nearly all the 
vices that are formed by horses. And when we 
reflect that the horse, our inferior in intelligence, 
is unable (except in a very limited way) to learn 
our language, it is clearly up to us to learn his 
and when we wish him to do any particular thing, 
to show him, in a way that he cannot fail to under- 
stand, what it is that we require of him. 




CHAPTER IX 

WHEN THE HORSE IS SICK 

'EXT to the treatment for the different vices 
and equine shortcomings, one of the first 
things horse-owners usually want to know 
about is the treatment of horses when ailing. For, 
unfortunately, horses are more liable to sickness 
and accident than any of our domestic animals 
and often, in such cases, a skilled veterinary phy- 
sician is too distant to be called in. 

I wish to state, in taking up this subject, that 
I am not a veterinary physician and the few reme- 
dies that I shall point out are simply those that I 
have found useful in the treatment of those ail- 
ments that are of most frequent occurrence and 
which, as a rule, require immediate attention. A 
great many of my readers are doubtless unable, 
in many instances, to secure the services of a good 
veterinarian. With me, the inability to secure 
such services has existed practically all my life — 
or, at least, all of It that has been spent in the 
country, which Includes by far the greater part. 
For, as a rule, it is only in our larger cities that 

106 



WHEN THE HORSE IS SICK 107 

veterinarians, in the true sense of the word, are 
to be found. There are so-called veterinarians 
everywhere, but they are, for the most part, ig- 
norant men, and of all human ills, the ignoramus 
who, by sheer bluff and imposition on the credulity 
of others, sets himself up as a veterinary practi- 
tioner is one of the worst. 

Perhaps a little light on the qualifications of 
these gentlemen and the basis of their claim as 
" doctors " may be of interest. They are of two 
kinds. The first, as a rule, were coachmen or 
grooms in the first place, and having learned by 
experience the remedies and treatment for one or 
two common ailments, set up, on the strength of 
this meager knowledge, as general practitioners — 
in which role, of course, they are fakirs, pure and 
simple. 

One man that I knew of this type, an Irishman, 
had the recipe for a blister ointment, which he 
kept a profound secret and which — especially in 
the treatment of spavins and bony enlargements — 
was by far the best that I ever used. He had once 
been, he told me, groom for a well-known vet- 
erinary physician in the old country, from whom 
he learned the recipe. Now this blister ointment 
was the only remedy that he knew how to make or 
how to use, and if he had confined himself solely 
to making and selling it, he would have been of 



108 THE HORSE 

some use in the world. But flushed with his suc- 
cess with this one thing, he must needs hang out 
his shingle as a general practitioner, and the 
damage that, for many years, he was constantly 
doing in this line far more than offset the good 
that he accomplished with his ointment. 

Another man, a Yankee farmer, had learned 
from his father how to castrate colts and in this 
operation he became very skilful and successful, 
so that his services were frequently sought at long 
distances from his home. Such success was too 
much for him; it turned his head and he set up, 
as indicated by the sign-board over his door, as 
" veterinary physician and surgeon." But, 
though naturally a good horseman, he had no 
knowledge of the drugs that he used — and, like 
all ignorant practitioners, he used them pretty 
freely. I knew of several horses whose deaths 
were undoubtedly due to his ministrations, and the 
wonder is that there were not more. 

" Doctors " of this particular kind are not now 
quite as plentiful as they used to be, owing to the 
popular demand of these days that a doctor shall 
have a " certificate." And so a class of veterinary 
" doctors " has sprung up who are every whit as 
ignorant as the older type — and possibly even 
worse in practice, as they cannot boast even of 
some specialty in which they are proficient — but 



WHEN THE HORSE IS SICK 109 

who, nevertheless, claim to be educated men and 
always have their certificates framed and hung 
up in their offices. These certificates are from in- 
stitutions that no one ever heard of, and in just 
what way they were obtained I am unable to say, 
except that they surely did not cost very much in 
either time or money. The owner of one of them, 
with a candor temporarily induced by bad whisky, 
once told me that he obtained it by attending a 
course of ten lectures which cost him one dollar 
each, and that he paid the lecturer five dollars 
more for the certificate. Was that all? " Yesh, 
that wush all." And I have no doubt that most 
of them were obtained in this or some similar way. 

Now between these miserable fakirs and the 
really trained and educated veterinary physician 
the gulf is very wide indeed, so wide, in fact, that 
they are not to be measured by the same scale of 
comparison. And there is no danger of mistaking 
the one for the other; they do not look, act, nor 
talk alike. The fakirs exist because the regulars 
cannot make a living from the practice they could 
pick up in a country town, and thus a great many 
farmers who need the services of a skilled veter- 
inarian are unable to secure them. 

My advice to all who have sick horses is: Send 
for a good veterinary physician if such a one is 
available. If not, do not fall back upon the fakir, 



110 THE HORSE 

but do the best you can yourself. By the use of 
a little common sense you can, in all probability, 
do better than he can. In any event, you are 
not likely to do worse — and you will, at least, be 
saved his fee. 

The first thing to remember in home treatment 
is that horses are subject to the same disorders 
as those which afflict the human race. If, there- 
fore, you can correctly diagnose the disease your 
horse is suifering from and know what remedy i^ 
used for a human being in like case, apply it to 
your horse, using from five to eight times the 
quantity. 

COLIC 

Colic is an ailment that almost every horse- 
owner is confronted with sooner or later. There 
is never any trouble in recognizing the symptoms. 
First, let me tell you what not to do. Do not 
give whisky, oil, nor any kind of a purge — the 
things that are most frequently given in such 
cases. The trouble is caused by sour, fermented 
food in the stomach and the gases it generates, 
and neither whisky nor cathartic has the slightest 
tendency to correct this. Use your common 
sense always and, before applying any remedy, 
stop to think of its natural effect. 



WHEN THE HORSE IS SICK 111 

Bicarbonate of soda, or common saleratus — 
a substance that every householder is pretty 
likely to have on hand — is a corrective for acid 
conditions and this, as the simplest remedy and 
one that has a direct effect upon the cause of the 
trouble, should be the first tried. Mix a half tea- 
cupful — or, in severe cases, rather more — -with a 
pint of water, give this to the horse, and repeat 
every fifteen minutes. In a great many cases — 
probably more than half — this will relieve the 
trouble and no other medicine will be needed. 

When this does not* relieve, however, give a dose 
of the following: 

One part aromatic spirits of ammonia, two 
parts spirits of chloroform. 

Give the horse about two or three ounces of 
this mixture in a pint of slightly-warm water and, 
if necessary, repeat in twenty minutes and con- 
tinue until relieved. This remedy very seldom 
fails to effect a cure, and although I have not had 
much trouble of this sort among my horses, I have 
for many years kept a bottle of the mixture on 
hand ready for emergencies. 

I should add that country horses, owing to the 
more natural conditions under which they are 
kept, are not only less subject to colic than city 
horses, but generally yield more readily to treat- 
ment. The city horse, that has been long kept up 



112 THE HORSE 

in a stable and fed heavily on grain, is not so 
easily cured. 

:vrORM-KILLERS 

Worms are generally found in horses that are 
in rather poor condition. Nature, always a good 
doctor, has provided a first-class remedy — green 
food — and if a horse has a run in a good pasture 
in summer and is carried through the winter in 
good shape, he is not likely to be troubled with 
worms. If it is necessary, however, to give some 
treatment in the season when green food is not to 
be had, the following remedies are good: Keep a 
lump of rock salt always in the manger and sup- 
plement it for a few days by giving a tablespoon- 
ful of fine salt night and morning in the feed. 
This will sometimes effect a complete cure in a 
short time. 

Sulphur is also a good thing, and a little of it 
mixed with the feed for a few days often effects a 
cure. 

Tobacco seems to be a very effective cure, 
though I generally prefer giving the other reme- 
dies a trial first. A tablespoonful of either 
smoking or chewing tobacco, rubbed fine and given 
in the feed night and morning for a week or two, 
is about the right dose. For the small, white 



WHEN THE HORSE IS SICK 113 

worms that infest the rectum an injection of water 
in which tobacco has been soaked is often a good 
method of treatment, as the trouble is freouently 
hard to reach by internal remedies. 

When a horse becomes lame, the first thing to 
do is to locate the lameness. Often, especially at 
first, there is little or no swelling. But there is 
always heat in the injured part and a careful 
examination will generally find it. If the horse is 
lame forward the trouble is much more likely to be 
below the knee than above it — maybe in the back 
tendon or ankle or foot. It is very common, 
when the seat of the trouble is not readily found, 
to ascribe it to the shoulder, but as the trouble 
is much more apt to be lower down, the most 
careful examination should be made before com- 
ing to this conclusion. 

There are many liniments on the market and 
some of them are very good, but plain, hot water 
applied persistently and followed by gentle rub- 
bing is the best treatment. It is of little use 
to do this hastily ; the water should be sopped on 
liberally with a soft cloth and the treatment con- 
tinued for, say, fifteen or twenty minutes and then 
the part rubbed with the hands until perfectly 
dry. This should be done at least twice a day. 

When the lameness is in the foot, it is not so 
easy to discover, but the injured foot will be a 



114 THE HORSE 

little hotter than the other. If the lameness is 
caused bj a bruise, the best treatment is soaking 
in hot water, and the horse should be kept off the 
hard road. 

If the horse gets a nail in his foot — and almost 
every horse does, sooner or later — pull it out and 
immediately wash the hole carefully with hot 
water, followed by dioxygen — and be sure to wash 
clear to the bottom. This last is important, as 
otherwise suppuration may follow. Then pack 
the hole with sterilized cotton. If the horse does 
not go lame, no further treatment is needed, but 
if he does, the process should be repeated. 

If the horse's hind legs stock up from standing 
too much in the stable, the deprivation of some of 
his more solid grain (especially corn) and the sub- 
stitution of a liberal ration of bran will generally 
relieve the difficulty. An occasional dose of 
Glauber salts will do the same thing, but the bran 
ration is to be preferred — and in all ordinary 
cases is sufficient. 

It occasionally happens that a horse gets hurt 
and that when the inflammation and lameness have 
subsided, an indurated swelling still remains. 
For such cases I have found the following the best 
of all remedies: Tincture of aconite root, three 
ounces ; tincture of opium, three ounces ; spirits of 
camphor, three ounces; iodide of potash (in fine 



WHEN THE HORSE IS SICK 116 

powder), four drams. Shake well before using; 
rub in thoroughly with the hand three times a day 
and always after using the horse. In treating 
swellings of this kind, you must remember that 
you are dealing with a condition that has become 
chronic and that a more or less long-continued 
treatment is necessary. This mixture is also an 
excellent liniment. 

For galls, first have the harness fit properly; 
then keep the galled places clean and treat them 
with some one of the various gall cures that are 
for sale on the market. These are intended to 
cure while the horse is working and, if used ac- 
cording to directions, will do their work. There 
are several kinds that are good and seem to work 
equally well. 

If in any way the horse gets cut or wounded, 
wash the wound perfectly clean with warm water 
and dioxygen; then, if necessary sew it up and 
protect it in some way so that the horse will not 
bite it. Then cover it with sterilized cotton and 
change the dressing frequently. Liniments are of 
no use; the secret of a speedy cure is to keep the 
wound perfectly clean. 

For thrush, wash out the foot thoroughly and 
then put a little pulverized blue vitriol in the cleft. 
Cover this with cotton, packing it in thoroughly 
so as to keep out all dirt. In twenty-four hours 



116 THE HORSE 

renew the application and repeat till the trouble 
IS cured. Three or four applications are usually 
sufficient. 

The few remedies I have here pointed out will 
cover, I think, most of the emergencies that, at 
one time or another, are sure to arise wherever 
horses are kept. I shall not take up the matter of 
treatment for chronic diseases and structural un- 
soundness — as founder, heaves, ringbone, spavin, 
etc. Animals having these unsoundnesses can 
often be made very useful, and a study of their 
treatment is not without Interest; still, the best 
way, when practicable. Is to sell them and let the 
doctoring be done by some one else. 

I have used some other remedies than those here 
mentioned, but I think it is not necessary to take 
them up, partly because I do not like to recom- 
mend the use of drugs, and partly because the 
older I grow the less medicine I use. I used, for 
instance, to give aconite when a horse had a cold 
— and there are times when such treatment is not 
amiss; but I am convinced that, in the majority 
of cases, the horse does fully as well If given no 
medicine whatever. Simply make him comfort- 
able, keep him In an even temperature, and sub- 
stitute bran for his more solid and substantial 
grain rations. 

Your success In home treatment will depend 



WHEN THE HORSE IS SICK 117 

upon the amount of attention you bestow upon 
your horses, confining yourself to simple remedies 
and applying them faithfully and painstakingly. 
Dabbling in drugs, with an imperfect knowledge 
of their therapeutic effects, is always dangerous 
and almost always followed by failure and loss. 
I have, perhaps, already dwelt sufficiently upon 
this point, but two cases that have come very 
recently under my notice illustrate it so well that 
I think they are worth relating. 

A neighbor had a mare that came lame behind. 
It was nothing worse than a little wrench of her 
ankle and needed no treatment beyond a few days' 
rest and bathing with hot water. He sent, however, 
for a quack veterinarian who told him the leg 
needed blistering " from hoof to gambrel " and 
who applied an exceedingly savage blister oint- 
ment. Before the first blister had healed, he made 
a second application directly upon the raw flesh. 
The result, of course, was a terrible inflammation 
and swelling, and when this injury finally healed, 
it left the leg round, hard, and permanently 
swollen. I advised my neighbor, who came to me 
in his trouble, to use the liniment above recom- 
mended for indurated swellings ; it greatly reduced 
It, but nothing could restore it to its natural form, 
and the mare — a young, handsome, and valuable 
one — ^was disfigured for life. 



118 THE HORSE 

In another instance I was asked by a neighbor 
to come and examine a horse that he said " would 
not eat." I found the horse pitifully nibbling at 
a little hay, as if he wanted to eat, but immediately 
dropping it. I guessed at once that his mouth 
was sore and, ,on ppening it, found the whole in- 
side entirely raw! Inquiries disclosed the fact 
that a certain " veterinarian " had been treating 
the horse for what he called " kidney disease " and 
the raw mouth was the result of caustic liquids 
that the ignoramus had been pouring down the 
poor animal's throat. Of course the horse died, 
and I could find no reason to suppose he had ever 
had anything the matter with his kidneys or, in 
fact, any indisposition whatever, unless, possibly, 
a slight cold. 

I will spare the reader any further account of 
such atrocities, although they are of constant 
occurrence. No one who sees them can help 
wishing that the fakirs might be treated with 
some of their own remedies. 

The moral is: Do not meddle with any 
remedies that you do not understand — nor let any 
fake veterinarian do the meddling for you. 



CHAPTER X 

SHOEING 

IN the first chapter I pointed out that the feet 
and legs of a horse, as they are the organs 
of locomotion, are the most important points 
and the first things to consider in examining him. 
It will therefore be seen that the matter of shoe- 
ing is a very important one and every horse owner 
should thoroughly familiarize himself with its 
principles. 

The first thing to learn is the structure of the 
horse's foot. This is best done by first obtaining 
the fore-foot of a dead horse and leaving it out in 
the weather till the fleshy parts have decomposed 
and dried up. Then study it carefully : the thick- 
ness and form of the walls where the nails are 
driven, the form of the frog and the cavity which, 
in life, contained the fleshy part of the foot, can 
be seen at a glance. This is not only the best but 
it is the only way in which a clear idea of the sub- 
ject can be gained; no number of diagrams and no 
amount of printed explanation can make it quite 
so plainly understood. The study can be made 
still more profitable by obtaining the feet of dif- 

119 



120 THE HORSE 

ferent kinds of horses — as a thoroughbred and a 
draft horse — and comparing them. 

Transfer now your study from the dead foot to 
that of a young horse that has never been shod. 
You will observe that the foot is symmetrical in 
shape and that it stands on the ground level, with 
neither toe nor heel tilted up; that the walls and 
sole are of strong, firm texture ; and that the frog 
is large and slightly yielding, like the heel of a 
rubber boot. You will see, too, that the frog and 
the walls, being a little lower than the sole, take 
the chief part of the horse's weight, the frog do- 
ing its full share. The whole foot is a beautiful 
piece of mechanism, intended by nature for sup- 
porting the horse and, by the elasticity of the 
frog, for guarding itself against concussion when 
on hard ground. If it were practicable never to 
shoe it, a large part of the foot troubles that 
horses have would be avoided. But as the foot 
was intended mainly for a grassy surface and for 
only occasional use on hard ground, the use of the 
domesticated horse on hard roads makes shoeing 
a necessity. 

Next look at the foot of a shod horse. In nine 
cases out of ten you will find that the frog does 
not bear upon the ground at all, its function as a 
buffer thus being rendered useless and a double 
duty thrown upon the walls, which now support 



SHOEING in 

the horse's entire weight. The structure of the 
foot, too, is somewhat modified, the frog being 
more or less shrunken and the whole foot drier 
and harder than in the unshod horse. 

Now this departure from natural conditions is 
undesirable and usually unnecessary. It should 
be remembered that the object of the shoe is 
simply to protect the horse's foot from wearing 
away and becoming sore on a surface harder than 
that upon which he would travel in a state of 
nature and that its natural shape and functions 
should be interfered with as little as possible. It 
should be as close to the ground as conditions will 
permit and the frog should bear directly upon it. 

Except in winter, when calks are necessary to 
keep the horse from slipping on the ice, the shoe 
should be entirely flat. It should be fitted very 
nicely to the shape of the foot, so that the walls 
bear evenly upon it all round, except from the 
bars back to the heel. Here it should be " eased " 
a little so that the pressure will be less than in 
other places. Corns are very likely to result if 
this is not done. 

The shoe should be so put on as to allow the 
frog to bear a little upon the ground. With 
most shoers this requirement is the hardest of all 
to have carried out. The smith will point out to 
you that the heel of the shoe is thicker than the 



122 THE HORSE 

toe and that therefore if the walls are pared down 
to their proper shape and no more, the frog will 
still be raised a little from the ground. This is 
generally true, and so the whole shoe should be 
heated and hammered out till the heel is slightly 
thinner than the toe. This, if properly done, will 
keep the bottom of the foot level, elevating neither 
the toe nor the heel, and will permit the frog to 
press upon the ground as it should. The shoe 
should be a trifle wider than the foot at the heel 
and should project backward beyond the heel a 
little — say, an eighth to a quarter of an inch on 
moderate-sized horses and a little more on larger 
ones. 

This I have found the best of all ways to obtain 
frog pressure. The means most frequently em- 
ployed are to use tips (shoes that protect only the 
forward part of the foot, leaving the whole after 
part to bear upon the ground.) But the great 
objection to tips is that, as the great majority of 
smiths put them on, they raise the toe and depress 
the heel — which is a bad thing for the horse and 
fully offsets any advantage they may bestow. In 
using full-length shoes this trouble is avoided. 
Often the method works like magic, and horses 
that have been constantly becoming lame from 
corns or bruised heels, when shod this way, show 
immediate improvement and travel off like entirely 



SHOEING 123 

diiFerent horses. More often, however, a little 
time is needed to work much change. 

The hard rubber pads that are made for shoe- 
ing horses subject to bruised heels often serve an 
excellent purpose, especially on horses that are 
used constantly upon paved streets. With them 
the shoe, like the tip, is cut short and the heel and 
most of the frog bear upon the rubber. This 
gives frog pressure and also prevents concussion 
and, unlike the tip, has no tendency to elevate the 
toe. But as the pad is so made that its leather 
sole covers the whole bottom of the foot, the 
method recommended above is to be preferred 
whenever practicable. In the country it usually 
works better than the pad and often works equally 
well in the city. 

In winter, unfortunately, no device has yet been 
found for taking the place of the sharp-calked 
shoe — and this, of course, does not admit of much 
frog pressure. If more natural conditions are 
observed in shoeing during the months that are 
free from ice, however, the horse will generally go 
through the winter all right with calks. Person- 
ally, I have found the shoe called the " Never- 
slip " the most satisfactory. In form it is a 
"snow shoe" — that is, its inside edge is bevelled 
so that the snow comes out of it readily, and its 
calks are made with the center harder than the 



124 THE HORSE 

outside so that they are always sharp. Indeed, 
a set that has been used some on frozen ground 
are sharper — though, of course, shorter — than 
new ones. When worn out they can be taken off 
with a wrench and replaced by new ones. Many 
smiths dislike to put on " Neverslip " shoes, but 
they are enough better than the ordinary kind to 
make it worth while to insist upon having them. 

When, as occasionally happens, circumstances 
make it necessary to elevate the heels to take some 
of the strain off the back tendons, the purpose is 
usually best accomplished by using a pad, with 
the shoe rather thin. This is better than a com- 
mon shoe with heel calks and no toe calks, though 
the harm that is done by a shoe with calks is in 
its long continued use. For a few weeks or 
months it rarely does any appreciable damage. 

The rules I have here given for shoeing are, of 
course, general; it would be impossible to 
formulate rules to fit each and every case. The 
important thing is for the horse owner to first 
fully understand the principles involved in cor- 
rect shoeing and then to use his common sense in 
any case requiring special treatment. 



CHAPTER XI 

CARRIAGE HORSES 

MANY years ago, in an article in one of the 
agricultural journals, I made the state- 
ment that breeders of trotting stock 
would, in many instances, do better to breed for 
type, rather than speed and that, while the pro- 
duction of really superior animals of any kind is 
never an easy or simple matter, it is nevertheless 
easier to produce beauty, finish, and action than 
extreme speed. I also expressed the belief that 
the supply of such horses would not, for many 
years, exceed the demand and that they would con- 
tinue, for a long time, to bring high prices. 

Events have fully borne out this opinion. For 
in the feverish anxiety to produce speed, a great 
many breeders paid little attention to such mat- 
ters as showy action and beauty of contour and 
there ensued a shortage of handsome carriage 
stock which was keenly felt in the market. One 
result of this was the importation of distinctive 
carriage breeds from Europe — notably the 
Hackney and the French Coach — and a more or 

125 



126 THE HORSE 

less enthusiastic movement toward breeding them 
in their purity and also crossing them upon other 
stock. 

At the present time, too, a great many breeders 
of trotting-bred stock are breeding for type more 
than for speed and have produced horses with an 
elegance of finish such as old-time breeders could 
hardly have foretold. But, notwithstanding this 
increase — and in spite, too, of the advent and 
popularity of the automobile, which, for long 
journeys, leaves horses entirely out of the reckon- 
ing — fine carriage stock was never so scarce in 
the market as now nor so high in price. 

Before considering the blood that will best pro- 
duce good carriage stock, let us see what a car- 
riage horse should be. With the compactness 
and substance necessary to pull a carriage he 
should be always a beautiful animal, smooth in 
build, graceful in contour, and with the aristo- 
cratic look that can only come from plenty of 
warm blood. His action should be free, spirited 
and yet easy, and he should have at least a reason- 
able degree of speed at the trot. This latter 
requisite, which is not infrequently overlooked by 
those who attach an undue importance to high 
stepping, will, in my opinion, be more and more 
insisted upon as time passes. 

The breeders of Hackney and French Coach 



CARRIAGE HORSES 12T 

horses believe that these breeds can furnish ani- 
mals of the requisite qualities and that they have 
produced many very fine ones is beyond dispute. 
The overwhelming majority of fine carriage horses 
In the United States to-day, however, are of 
strictly American breeding, nor Is it necessary for 
the man who wants to raise such stock to look to 
the Imported breeds. The materials are already 
at his hand If only selected with care and judg- 
ment. It has even been stated that the American- 
bred horse is preferred in the market. The truth 
of this, as far as judging a horse by his blood Is 
concerned, may be doubted, but, judged as an In- 
dividual, a certain type of horse Is preferred and 
that type Is most frequently produced from 
American blood. And, personally, I doubt If any 
horse of the Imported breeds can equal In beauty, 
style and action the best horses of American 
breeding. 

But without any well-established breed of 
American carriage horses, where do these horses 
come from? And where Is the breeder to look who 
wants to raise horses like them? We may reply, 
off-hand, by saying that a very large number are 
more or less trotting bred, a statement that can 
be better understood from the fact, already men- 
tioned, that there are to-day many breeders of 
trotters who aim at type, beauty, and finish rather 



128 THE HORSE 

than speed. But this answers the question only In 
part for the blood of the standard-bred trotter is 
made up of different elements, and certain strains, 
conspicuous in some and undoubtedly having an 
influence upon their offspring, are lacking in 
others. 

If we examine the pedigrees of American-bred 
horses that are of marked beauty and finish we 
find with sufficient frequency to make the matter 
worthy of note strains of thoroughbred, of Den- 
mark (founder of the American saddle horse), and 
of that most beautiful of all families ever bred on 
American soil, the Morgan. These strains vary, 
not only In the proportion In which they are pres- 
ent but in their nearness and remoteness, but still 
throw on the subject enough light for us to say, 
with but little fear of contradiction from those 
who have studied It, that the blood which has most 
often produced our most beautiful carriage horses, 
is trotting, tracing through thoroughbred, Den- 
mark, and Morgan crosses. 

Of course, trotting blood, not having these 
strains (except thoroughbred, which is its most 
important component part) has also produced fine 
carriage stock and when it is known to be able to 
do this its antecedents do not matter. But in 
selecting stock for the purpose it would certainly 
be wise to choose not only animals possessing in a 
high degree, as individuals, the characteristics 



CARRIAGE HORSES 1^9 

most prized, but also having the strains of blood 
we have named, for when aiming at so high a mark 
it is desirable to have as many of the elements of 
success as possible. 

To obtain a clear idea of the value in this con- 
nection of the strains I have named, let us go back 
a little in the history of American horses and see 
what these distinguished families really were. 
Let us first take the Morgan. This family has 
gone on record as the gamest, the most beautiful, 
and, all things considered, the nearest to perfec- 
tion of any that America has produced. Though 
not as fast at the trot as some other families, they 
were all fast; they all showed uncommon endur- 
ance and stamina ; they had the points of equine 
excellence and elegance that distinguished the 
Arab ; and they bore themselves as superbly as the 
proudest of the aristocratic sons of the desert. 

In every single respect except size they were 
ideal horses. Concerning the breeding of Justin 
Morgan, the founder of the family, there has been 
endless discussion, but of this we are certain — 
that the family had the prepotency that only 
comes of ancient and unsullied lineage. It is no 
wonder, then, that their blood should be found in 
some of the best of our carriage stock to-day and 
it is logical that we should look to it as an Im- 
portant element in breeding such stock. 

It is a pity that such a family should not have 



160 THE HORSE 

been preserved in its integrity and that its blood 
should be so largely lost to present-day breeders. 
But through the desire to breed extreme speed 
the Morgans were crossed with other families and 
the original type was very largely lost. Efforts 
are now being made to restore it, and if this is suc- 
cessfully accomplished and, by careful selection, 
the size increased a little (all of which can, un- 
questionably, be done, if sufficient time is taken) 
the advantage to American breeders will be very 
great. It will be quite a number of years, how- 
ever, before all this can be done and a still longer 
time before the stock will be available to breeders 
as a distinct breed. 

Let us now look at the thoroughbred strain. 
No other strain has played so conspicuous a part 
in the development of the standard-bred trotting 
horse: it is this, more than any other, that has 
given him his game qualities as a race-horse and 
his " breediness " and finish as a blooded animal. 
Its potency as a factor in fine road stock can be 
best seen, I think, by going back to the days 
when there was no recognized breed of trotters 
and when the thoroughbred was the only " blooded 
horse " known and recognized as such, in the 
country. 

In colonial days and for a long period there- 
after the blood of the thoroughbred was prized, in 



CARRIAGE HORSES 131 

most sections, above all other. In a country 
settled by Englishmen this was natural. Other 
kinds of horses could have been as easily imported 
and others were imported to some extent, but the 
horse that was the fastest in the world at the run, 
the direct descendant of Arabian progenitors, and 
whose very name had become a s^^nonym for the 
qualities most prized in horse flesh, was naturally 
preferred. 

When I was a boy, my father always raised a 
few choice horses, largely as a matter of pleasure, 
but partly for profit as he raised more than he 
could use and those that he was willing to sell 
brought very high prices. They were sold in 
Newport, R. I., where then, as now, fine horses 
were in keen demand. With less opportunity 
than now exists for selecting good breeding stock, 
he succeeded in raising carriage horses of a very 
high type. His mares were selected carefully for 
the type that he preferred, but, beyond mere hear- 
say and what could be judged by their appear- 
ance, it was often impossible to know their breed- 
ing. 

One mare, however, which he greatly prized 
and whose offspring was always the finest, he knew 
more about. Her dam was a mare of unknown 
pedigree but showing good blood and of excellent 
road type, and her sire a stallion, claimed to be 



1S2 THE HORSE 

an Arabian, that belonged with a circus that was 
showing at Newport. Of this horse's claim to 
Arabian blood I have no proof, but the appearance 
of the mare, whom I remember perfectly and all of 
whose colts I rode under the saddle, certainly bore 
it out. She had the dishing face, the clean limbs 
and head, the high-carried tail, and the peculiar 
elegance of contour that goes with the Arab race. 

My father always bred her, as well as his other 
mares, to a thoroughbred stallion, but he was very 
careful to select a smooth, compact, short-jointed 
one; most thoroughbreds he considered too 
slender and rangy to produce the best carriage 
stock. He found his ideal sire in De Wolf's 
Matchless, a horse that stood in Bristol, R. L 
Curiously enough, this horse whose get, consider- 
ing the diversity of mares that were bred to him, 
were of remarkable finish and many of them very 
showy in harness, was never fully appreciated by 
horsemen until after his death. 

I recall an incident in the latter days of my 
father's horse-breeding which, though trivial, I 
may perhaps be pardoned for telling. The 
keeper of a young stallion of Hambletonian blood 
whose services he wished to see tried on good 
mares, came to show him the horse. After look- 
ing him over he condemned him as " lacking in 
style and too coarse, especially in the head," and 



CARRIAGE HORSES 133 

though he greatly valued speed at the trot, he ex- 
pressed his intention of continuing to breed to a 
thoroughbred sire. The incident shows how 
closely cherished was the old-fashioned but praise- 
worthy ideal that a horse must be fine all over and 
therefore as clean in head as in limb, and that his 
style — his way of carrying himself — must be fully 
commensurate with his high breeding. 

Personally, the handsomest horses I ever raised 
were from strictly thoroughbred mares, bred to a 
trotting-bred stallion. One pair of them, from a 
daughter of Lexington, were strikingly beautiful 
and would doubtless have brought a high price, 
had I cared to sell them. But these horses, it 
must be admitted, were not of the most approved 
carriage type; they were hardly compact and 
heavy enough and I mention them only as illustra- 
tive of the potency of the thoroughbred cross in 
producing " breedy," aristocratic looking horses. 

With the Denmark strain I am much less 
familiar. But no one who has seen the superb 
saddle horses that are bred in Kentucky, direct 
descendants of Denmark, and who has observed 
how often this blood appears in the pedigrees of 
our handsomest carriage horses can doubt for a 
moment its value. 

I wish now to say a few words about a race of 
horses which have never had much direct part 



1S4 THE HORSE 

in the development of our American stock — the 
Arabian. Indirectly, indeed, through the thor- 
oughbred, it has always made itself felt, but in its 
purity it has never been used very much in this 
country. And yet it is almost inconceivable that 
so beautiful a breed could not be advantageously 
used. 

From time to time breeders of thoroughbred 
stock, misled by the fact that the Arabian was 
the source of all that makes the thoroughbred 
what he is, have sought to improve the latter by a 
fresh infusion of Arabian blood. But it was long 
ago found that the thoroughbred, as a race-horse, 
was not improved by the cross, nor is this to be 
wondered at, for the thoroughbred being faster 
than the Arabian, it is not reasonable to suppose 
that his speed could be improved by crossing with 
any slower stock, even though it be the same stock 
from which he originally sprang. , 

In the development of the trotting horse, too, 
Arabian blood has had little part. The cross has 
been tried, but thorough blood has been the main 
factor in making the trotter what he is to-day. 

Although always an admirer of the Arabian 
horse, these facts led me, for many years, to be- 
lieve that he had already fulfilled his mission and 
that his qualities were best obtained, in modern 
times, through the medium of the thoroughbred. 



CARRIAGE HORSES 135 

But breeding race-horses and carriage stock are 
two very different things, and now, on the shady 
side of fifty, I find myself reversing this opinion 
and believing that in a great many cases where 
beauty, style, elegance of finish, good disposition, 
and endurance are desired rather than extreme 
speed Arabian blood could be used to great ad- 
vantage. What is most frequently urged against 
the Arabian is that he is a comparatively small 
animal. But this feature sinks into insignificance 
when compared with his other qualities ; and it 
must be remembered that his blood has been used 
in the development of breeds of horses fully as 
large as our average carriage stock. 

An Arabian mare that came into my possession 
some years ago gave me, perhaps, the keenest 
realization I had had of what the race really is 
to-day — for, almost unconsciously, in thinking of 
the Arabian horse, we picture him as in the remote 
past. This mare was fifteen hands high, white in 
color (though her skin was dark and this dark 
color showed a little around her eyes and nostrils), 
and in conformation she was nearly perfect. I 
have owned many fine horses, but I do not think 
any of them was quite her equal in beauty. She 
was nearly twenty years old when she came to me, 
but she showed no sign of age and I never knew 
her to give any indication of weariness. 



136 THE HORSE 

I cannot say that I expect to see much use made 
of Arabian blood in the near future, much as I 
would like to see it tried, for in horse-breeding, as 
in other things, habits of thought become strongly 
fixed and there is also comparatively little Arabian 
blood in the country. I believe that interest in it 
is growing, however. 

Meanwhile we must confine ourselves to the 
strains of blood that are already available. And 
no one who sees such horses as " Glorious Thunder- 
cloud," as well as many others of like type can 
doubt the ability of American blood to produce 
the highest type of carriage horses. What is now 
most needed is that greater fixity of the carriage 
type which can only come through continued 
breeding with only this type in view — a result 
which we have every reason to hope for in the near 
future. 



CHAPTER XII 

DRAFT HORSES 

THE draft horse, more than any other, is an 
evolution — or, more properly speaking, 
a modification — of the horse as nature 
formed him, brought about by the necessities of 
man and his skill as a breeder. He is a far greater 
departure than any other from the original type. 
For the horse, in a state of nature, is never very 
large; he is formed for speed and for living on a 
grass diet, and his first adaptation to man's uses 
was doubtless in the carrying of comparatively 
light burdens and in traveling with a speed rather 
greater than less than that which he first 
possessed. 

But the draft horse has little speed; his chief 
use is in the moving of heavy burdens, and he is 
more dependent than other horses upon a grain 
diet. He is also so much larger and of such dif- 
ferent characteristics and general appearance 
that when compared with a horse of racing or 
carriage blood it is difficult to realize that both 
sprang from the same source. 

This striking difference between the draft horse 

13T 



138 THE HORSE 

and all other types must always be considered if 
we are to understand fully his possibilities and 
limitations. In all other types, however modified 
to suit such different uses as riding, driving, and 
racing, the development has been mainly along the 
lines of the animal's natural traits and qualities — 
as his speed, endurance, and beauty of contour. 
Even in coach horses, which have often to pull a 
considerable load, this holds true. But the draft 
horse is so modified as to serve a totally different 
purpose from that which nature intended and size 
and strength, rather than speed, endurance, and 
grace of outline, have always been the chief things 
aimed at in his development. 

This great change is very often ascribed wholly 
to the art of man. But it is well to remember 
that the art of man alone, without the right en- 
vironment, could never have brought it about. 
The draft horse is peculiarly the product of the 
temperate zone and then of only its comparatively 
level and fertile sections. In the far north, in a 
mountainous country, or in the tropics his de- 
velopment would have been impossible, nor can he, 
even now, be bred in such regions and made to 
retain his standard size — a fact that should al- 
ways be kept in mind by all who contemplate 
breeding him. 

Now, in departing so far from the purposes of 



DRAFT HORSES 189 

nature, in bringing about a change in the animal 
in which not only the skill of man but the influence 
of soil and climate have been pressed into service, 
there have been certain great and unavoidable 
losses — for it must be remembered that the loss of 
grace, of activity, and of endurance at other gaits 
than the walk, have all been incidental and were 
not matters of intention with those who developed 
him. It was simply that, if all these things had 
been considered, it would have taken a great deal 
longer to breed him to his present size, if it could 
ever have been done at all ; and so, in making size 
and strength, always the chief aim, much had to be 
sacrificed and other qualities were lost along the 
way. 

With his increase of size also came a greater 
coarseness of structure, most noticeable, perhaps, 
in the feet, which never average as good as those 
of road horses. But the defects of conformation 
we so frequently see in draft horses, such as up- 
right shoulders, long backs, drooping rumps, and 
ill-proportioned limbs, were never an evolutionary 
necessity; they came about through the insane 
striving of the breeder for great size, to the 
sacrifice of everything else and should not be 
tolerated in a draft horse any more than in any 
other. 

With these facts in mind we can better judge 



140 THE HORSE 

what a good draft horse should be. The best 
draft horse is the one that, with the needful size 
and strength for an animal of his type, is most 
truly a horse and not a lumbering equine 
monstrosity. He should be active and easy in his 
movements, of a cheerful, lively temperament, and 
compact and handsome in build. As regards the 
points of his conformation, jthere is a very com- 
mon idea that he should be judged by a different 
standard from that which is applied to road stock. 
But if examined critically, the well-formed draft 
horse, as shown in our chapter on the points of the 
horse, will be found to possess the same points of 
excellence that characterize a good road horse, 
combined, of course, with those modifications of 
conformation which the purpose for which he is in- 
tended have made necessary. 

To put it in a little different way, he should be 
judged first as a horse and then as a draft animal. 
For instance, the draft horse is wide in the chest 
and his legs wider apart than in a good carriage 
horse. But, in addition to this breadth^ he should 
have the depth of chest that is a good point in all 
horses. He should also have the strong loins, 
short back, and slanting shoulders that go with 
all good horses, and his limbs should be well- 
formed, clean, and flat. That they cannot be as 
clean and flat as those of a thoroughbred signifies 



DRAFT HORSES 141 

nothing, and is no argument against the standard 
to be applied, for again the type of horse must 
be taken into consideration and the limbs as clean 
and flat as his greater coarseness of fiber will 
admit. It is needless to say that a horse, of 
whatever type, should be homogeneous through- 
out, and the limbs of a thoroughbred under a draft 
horse would be sadly out of place. 

It need hardly be said that in the raising of 
draft stock it is always most profitable to produce 
the best. For, barring the greater cost of good 
foundation stock, it costs no more to produce a 
good horse than a poor or indifferent one, and his 
value is much greater. In fact, mediocrity in 
horseflesh, is a thing that there is little profit and 
no interest or satisfaction in producing. The 
latter consideration can no more be ignored by in- 
telligent farmers than the former, for the produc- 
tion of the best draft horses, like the best of any 
other kind, calls for skill and attention to detail 
and knowledge of the principles of breeding — mat- 
ters that are always of absorbing interest and 
that bring pleasure as well as profit into the 
business. 

Breeders of road stock sometimes speak slight- 
ingly of the skill required to produce draft ani- 
mals, but every intelligent breeder who has 
raised both kinds knows that this contemptuous 



142 THE HORSE 

view-point is unjust and usually arises from not 
realizing the fact that the production of the best 
of anything, whether road or draft horses, or 
oxen or pigs, or fruits and vegetables, is never 
easy. It cannot, of course, be denied that the 
road horse is the higher type of the two. But his 
production is also a matter of greater risk and 
anxiety and more care and pains are required for 
his proper breaking and training. Not all men 
have the right qualifications for raising him suc- 
cessfully. To a great many farmers the draft 
horse, with his lesser liability to accident, his 
more even disposition and temper, and the greater 
ease with which he can be broken and fitted for 
market, offers a more inviting field. 

I would not be fair to the draft horse if I did 
not mention one matter in which he is very often 
misjudged — his intelligence. A very common im- 
pression among those who are not acquainted with 
him is that his tractability and the ease with which 
he is usually broken to harness are owing rather 
to a sort of ox-like docility than to his ability to 
understand what is required of him. But in a life- 
long experience with horses of all kinds I could 
never perceive that the draft horse was one whit 
less intelligent than other equine types. 

Indeed, if there is any difference, it is the other 
way, for the draft horse, being by temperament 



DRAFT HORSES 143 

more free from nervous excitability, his mind is 
usually in better condition to absorb instruction 
and to comprehend what his master requires of 
him. Fire engine horses which, though not of the 
most pronounced draft type, are nevertheless 
much more of the draft type than any other, are 
a good exemplification of this. 

The farmer who wishes to raise draft stock has 
two distinct ways open to him and both are good. 
If he has good judgment and a right understand- 
ing of the requirements of the case he can select 
large, handsome mares of unknown breeding and 
breed them to a pure-bred draft stallion. It is 
highly important that the stallion be strictly pure- 
bred, a good representative of the breed to which 
he belongs, possessing individually good points 
throughout. 

A great many very fine draft horses are pro- 
duced in this way and it should be remembered 
that, when sold for other than breeding purposes, 
pedigrees count for little. The horses sought for 
pulling a coal truck or a fire engine must be, 
individually, what is wanted, and if they fail in 
this vital requirement, the fact that they are 
Percherons or Clydesdales will not help them one 
iota. In fact, all geldings, of whatever type (and 
more than half of the horses sold in the market 
are geldings) must stand solely upon their in- 



144 THE HOR^E 

dividual merits, and mares that are used in the 
same way must be judged very largely by the 
same standard. 

But, while this holds true as far as stock that is 
sold in the market is concerned, it is blood that 
tells in its production, and the farmer who can 
afford to buy pure-bred stock on both sides may 
be sure that it will prove a good investment. 
Apart from the chance that this gives him to sell 
some of his stock for breeding purposes, it makes 
him more certain of the quality and uniformity 
of all his stock than he can ever be when using 
mares of unknown breeding. 

In buying pure-bred animals, however, he 
should never depend too much upon the mere fact 
that they are pure-bred, but should select them 
with just as much reference to their points as in- 
dividuals as if he were buying common stock. 
Failure to do this will surely result in disappoint- 
ment — and disappointment, too, of a peculiarly 
heart-sickening kind; for there are few more de- 
pressing agricultural sights than an animal hav- 
ing a long, recorded pedigree and yet failing in 
the very points that such distinguished lineage 
should promote. It is true that the progeny of 
a pure-bred animal that has not the best of points 
will frequently revert or " take back " to 
ancestors that had better ones, but to depend 



DRAFT HORSES 146 

upon this possibility is taking much too long a 
chance. The reversion, too, is just as likely to be 
to inferior ancestors as to superior ones. 

Animals that are themselves individually good 
and that also trace back through individually 
good ancestors are the kind to buy for breeders. 
For it will be readily seen that, however good a 
breed may be, if care is not exercised in the mating 
in each generation the offspring will, as a rule, fall 
below the general average and the breed will 
deteriorate. 

It is hardly my place here to say which of the 
draft breeds is the best. The Percherons are the 
greatest favorites and it may be doubted if there 
is any better breed. But there is no reason to be- 
lieve that there are not others equally good ; other 
things being equal, the breeder had best be 
guided in his choice by his personal preference. 
But before buying, he should carefully examine 
the stock that is in keenest demand for practical 
purposes in the open market and see if the breed 
of his choice conforms to it in characteristics and 
general type. 

I would also caution all against breeds that are 
excessively hairy on the legs. Not only is this 
an unsightly and unequine feature, but it serves 
no good purpose and — what to the breeder is still 
more to the point — it is unfashionable in the 



146 THE HORSE 

market. For the fashion in draft horses has im- 
proved of late years and the fancy teams that we 
see in the cities are more trappy in their move- 
ments and look more like horses and less like pigs 
or elephants than those of a few years ago. 

It is the fashion to have draft horses excessively 
fat when offered for sale in the market. So uni- 
versal is this custom that there seems to be no 
help for it, though it is greatly to be deplored. 
It serves no good purpose, as far as the use of the 
horse is concerned, for this soft fat, which is put 
on when the horse is idle or practically so, must 
all be worked off and good, hard flesh worked on 
before he is of much use for hard service. It 
also conceals, to some extent, bad points in con- 
formation, and a pair of horses that are quite 
deficient in good points, if only of large size and 
closely matched, will, if excessively fat, often sell 
very well in the market. 

This is not as encouraging as it might be for 
the man who is taking pains to raise good ones, 
but he may console himself with the fact that, 
however good a disguise fat may be, no amount of 
it can make a poorly put up horse look quite as 
well as one that is well formed and " horsey." 
Nor can he, any more than his competitors, afford 
to despise such factitious aids as may make his 
horses sell better; condition, grooming, close 



DRAFT HORSES 14T 

matching, and so handling his stock that it will 
" show well " all count. But, other things being 
equal, the reward is, as it should be, to the man 
who raises the best horses. 

All of our breeds of draft horses, without ex- 
ception, have been imported from European coun- 
tries ; not one has been developed on American 
soil. This, in view of our achievement in the de- 
velopment of the American trotter as a distinct 
breed, may at first seem strange, but the cases are 
by no means similar. All through the earlier 
years and until a comparatively recent date in 
this country there were very few horses bred ex- 
pressly for draft purposes and the majority of 
those that were needed for heavy work were simply 
selected for their size and strength from the ordi- 
nary rank and file in the market. Thus a great 
many of them, except in size, did not differ very 
greatly from the road type and among them were 
often many excellent roadsters. 

The finest draft teams of forty years ago would 
look light and of decidedly different type if placed 
alongside of our best specimens of draft stock at 
the present day. When heavier horses were 
needed, we found in the European breeds what we 
wanted, all ready-made, and there was no need, as 
with our trotters, to develop a breed of our own. 
There is still room for much improvement, how- 



14S THE HORSE 

ever, and as the true standard to which the draft 
horse should conform becomes more fully realized 
by breeders, the raising of stock of this kind will 
doubtless attract a greater degree of skill and 
attention and we may reasonably expect to see 
more representatives of the draft horse as he 
should be — a draft animal but still a horse. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE EVOLUTION OF THE TWO-MINUTE 
TROTTER 

WHEN Lou Dillon first trotted her mile 
in less than two minutes people very 
naturally exclaimed, " Wonderful ! " 
But the production of a horse that can do this 
is probably even a greater achievement than the 
majority suppose. And when we reflect upon the 
comparatively short time that has elapsed since 
the trotters were first registered as a distinct 
breed, and that even then it was composed of so 
many and such heterogeneous elements that 
thoughtful horsemen conceded its claim to be re- 
garded as such with many reservations, the exploit 
may well be regarded as one of the great achieve- 
ments of the age, yielding in brilliancy to none in 
the long annals of horses and horsemanship. 

That such animals as Lou Dillon, Major Del- 
mar, and other great trotters are in no wise the 
result of chance nor even of the wisdom a.nd skill 
of any one horse-breeder is self-evident. They 

149 



150 THE HORSE 

represent many lifetimes of study, experiment, 
and research and crown the labors of many bygone 
horsemen in a field where, perhaps more than in 
any other, one must, to attain success, be in close 
touch with Nature and possessed of an intimate 
knowledge of her laws. To describe their evolu- 
tion in such manner as to show clearly how it was 
brought about it is necessary for me not only to 
refer to the efforts of American horsemen since we 
first began to breed horses for speed at the trot, 
but to take a brief glance at the horses of an 
earlier period. 

In earlier days, as pointed out in the chapter 
on carriage horses, thoroughbreds were very 
naturally regarded as the most to be desired of all 
animals and, whenever a farmer could, he secured 
the services of a thoroughbred stallion for his 
brood-mare. Such horses, however, were few in 
number as compared with those of humbler origin 
and the majority of farmers had to content them- 
selves with such stock as was available. Thus 
the breed of American horses, if it could be called 
a breed at all, was of an extremely composite 
character and included not only the blood of 
nearly every type of English horse then in use, 
but also that of the little horse of Canada, com- 
monly called the Kanuck. One distinct breed 
sprang up, the Narragansett pacers of southern 



THE TWO-MINUTE TROTTER 151 

Rhode Island, now known to have been of Andalu- 
sian origin, but these horses were chiefly bred In 
their purity for export and it is doubtful if they 
left much impress upon American stock in general. 

With a native stock composed of so many ele- 
ments and often bred with little reference to 
pedigree, it is no wonder that speed at the trot, 
when it first showed itself, seemed more a matter 
of accident than anything else. That it was not 
looked for by the breeders of the earliest celeb- 
rities is certain, for Dutchman was first found 
by Hiram Woodruff working in a string-team on 
a brick-wagon, and Flora Temple, before her 
career as a trotter, was used by a drover to haul 
his gig. But let us look at the breeding of a few 
of the old-time performers and see if it throws any 
light on the matter of speed at the trot. 

Trustee, the first horse to trot twenty miles in 
an hour, was by imported Trustee (thorough- 
bred) ; his dam, Fanny Pullen, largely of thor- 
ough blood. 

Dutchman, though his breeding is not definitely 
known, was said to be sired by a thoroughbred 
horse, and both his appearance and characteristics 
indicated a goodly percentage of thorough blood. 

Lady Blanche, foaled in 1829, was by Abdallah, 
a son of Mambrino, by Imported Messenger (thor- 
oughbred). 



15S THE HORSE 

Lady Suffolk, foaled in 1833, was by Engineer, 
a son of Imported Messenger (thoroughbred) ; her 
dam by Plato, also a son of Imported Messenger. 

Flora Temple, foaled about 1845, was by One- 
Eyed Hunter, a son of Kentucky Hunter (thor- 
oughbred). 

We find in every one of these horses a large 
proportion of thorough blood ; two out of the four 
whose breeding is known are descendants of Mes- 
senger, and Lady Suffolk is not only inbred to 
Messenger but is only one remove from him on her 
sire's side and two on her dam's. 

Two old-time stallions, though their fame did 
not come till much later, should also be mentioned 
with the early trotters : 

Abdallah, foaled in 1823, was by Mambrino, a 
son of Imported Messenger ; his dam the " trot- 
ting mare " Amazonia. 

American Star, foaled in 1837, and subse- 
quently noted as a sire of speed-producing daugh- 
ters, was by American Star; his dam by Henry 
and his granddam by Messenger. 

It would seem to be obvious that thorough 
blood was an important element in the make-up 
of a trotter and also, judging by the examples at 
hand, that it was well to have it come through 
Imported Messenger. And I may as well say here 
as anywhere that events have proved this to be a 



THE TWO-MINUTE TROTTER 163 

fact and that In Imported Messenger originated 
the best strains of trotting blood now in our 
country. But how little this was then understood 
or appreciated Is shown by the fact that Abdallah, 
now honored as the sire of that greatest of Amer- 
ican trotting sires, Rysdyk's Hambletonian, was 
allowed to die through neglect and starvation on 
a sandy beach on Long Island. Apart from the 
pathetic spectacle of the grand old horse perish- 
ing in this Ignominious and miserable way, the loss 
thus unconsciously occasioned to the interests of 
trottlng-horses Is a matter for deep regret and 
recalls the scriptural text, " My people are de- 
stroyed through lack of knowledge." 

There was a great deal of groping In the dark 
in the breeding that followed and a great many 
bitter disappointments and heart-sickening fail- 
ures. A constant difficulty was that many of 
the stallions in use were of such mingled strains 
of blood that they were uncertain In transmitting 
their qualities to their progeny. The principle 
that ** like begets like " Is only operative among 
animals of a pure breed, and when a stock-horse 
Is of such mixed lineage that his son or daughter 
is liable to " take back " to any one of a dozen 
ancestors, all different, there is little pleasure or 
satisfaction In breeding. The Introduction of 
more thorough blood would have added to the pre- 



154 THE HORSE 

potency, but, despite the evidence to the contrary, 
a belief prevailed that thorough blood was antag- 
onistic to the trotting action and therefore to be 
kept as remote as possible. It thus came about 
that some rank quitters were bred, horses that, al- 
though they had speed, could not stand up to a 
race of broken heats. And it has been said, with 
much reason, that " God hates a quitter." 

The number of blanks in the lottery (for so it 
was then frequently called) of breeding caused 
serious reflection upon the course being followed 
and more than twenty-five years after the days of 
Dutchman and Flora Temple some very intelligent 
horsemen felt that in many of the essential quali- 
ties of the race-horse the earlier celebrities had 
never been surpassed and that therefore the im- 
provement in trotters was much less than was 
commonly supposed. Looking back now, how- 
ever, one cannot but feel that in reality a great 
advance had been made. For, not to mention 
other sires, the great Rysdyk's Hambletonian had 
been bred and was now founding a family destined 
to be without a peer in the racing world and, not- 
withstanding the innumerable failures and disap- 
pointments and blunders in breeding, nothing was 
now more certain than that trotters were begotten 
by trotters. A new and distinct breed, in fact, 
was in process of formation. 



THE TWO-MINUTE TROTTER 155 

Familiar as the pedigree of Rysdjk's Hamble- 
tonian is to horsemen, I here subjoin it — partly 



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156 THE HORSE 

because any account of American horses would be 
incomplete without it and partly for the benefit of 
such of my readers as do not already know it. It 
is worthy of thoughtful examination and shows 
pretty clearly where the speed-producing power 
came from. The horse himself certainly could not 
be called handsome, nor was he specially speedy 
— 2:40 or 2:45 being probably about his gait. 
But he was a horse of great vitality and stamina, 
and illustrates, as few stallions do, the truism that 
the value of a stock-horse lies not in his own per- 
formances but in those of his sons and daughters. 

There were many intermediate steps to be taken, 
however, between the founding of this family and 
the production of the two-minute trotter. 

There are two ways by which the prepotency 
of a new breed can be rendered greater and its 
type more firmly fixed; first, by inbreeding; sec- 
ond, by an occasional fresh admixture of that 
pure strain of blood which forms its most im- 
portant component part. After the establish- 
ment of the Hambletonian family the first method 
was followed with renewed zeal and with fine re- 
sults. Many horsemen, pondering on the blood- 
lines of the great sire, now began to question 
whether it might not be wise to go back to the 
fountainhead and add to the blood of Messenger a 
little more of the thoroughbred strain. 



THE TWO-MINUTE TROTTER 157 

As a matter of common-sense, Messenger was 
surely not the only thoroughbred that could beget 
speed at the trot, however gifted he might be in 
that line; the progeny of Trustee, Bellfounder, 
and others were speedy at the trot. Leland Stan- 
ford was the greatest advocate of the thorough- 
bred cross, arguing that, as the thoroughbred al- 
ready possessed all the qualities desired except the 
ability to trot fast, the more thorough blood in 
the trotter the better, even to the extent, if it were 
possible, of simply engrafting the trotting action 
upon the thoroughbred horse. He purchased 
Electioneer and bred him to strictly thorough- 
bred mares. 

This was regarded as an extreme experiment, 
even by those friendly to the thoroughbred cross, 
for few believed that it was wise to have it quite 
so near as that. But the stallion, Palo Alto, 
2 :08%, was a result of this way of breeding, and 
the California stock rose to fabulous prices. It 
was purchased largely by Eastern breeders and 
more than ever before trotters began to look fine 
and bloodlike. 

Another factor that tended to the more rapid 
evolution of speed was an increased attention to 
the choice of the dam. The old-fashioned idea 
that good blood was of more importance in the 
sire than in the dam was a false one. It had its 



158 THE HORSE 

origin, not in any observed preponderance of pre- 
potency on the sire's side, but simply in the fact 
that a mare could only perpetuate her qualities by 
the slow process of single births, whereas a stal- 
lion could be the father of a great number of foals 
in a single year. 

But it is quality, not numbers, that counts ; the 
man in the scriptural parable justly reckoned the 
one pearl of great price more valuable than every- 
thing else he possessed. Nature gives but spar- 
ingly of her very best, in any event, and when it 
was demontsrated by experience and cold, actual 
dollars and cents that the single foal of a choice 
mare was sometimes worth more than all the foals 
in toto that his father ever produced from mares 
less carefully selected, then brood-mares rose to 
their true place of honor. The Arabs knew the 
value of their mares hundreds of years ago, but 
we often have to re-learn lessons which have been 
thoroughly mastered at some time in the past. 

When Jay-Eye-See first trotted his mile in ^ :10 
on the track at Providence, Rhode Island, his 
speed was regarded as phenomenal and there was 
naturally more or less discussion of the chances 
of ultimately lowering the trotting record to two 
minutes and the length of time it might take. As 
a matter of fact it took nearly twenty years. 
Whether this is a long time or not depends upon 



THE TWO-MINUTE TROTTER 159 

the point of view; undoubtedly, in the eyes of 
many it is. But considering the low records with 
which we are dealing and the fact that the breed 
of American trotters must still be classed as a new 
one and therefore of less prepotency and fixity of 
type than it will ultimately have, I do not think 
that the time can properly be considered a long 
one, but rather the reverse. 

So much wonder is often expressed by those 
unfamiliar with the education of the horses at the 
amount of training bestowed on a trotter — 
*^ especially," as they say, " as he was bred for a 
trotter and so ought to trot fast of his own ac- 
cord " — that I think I should add a few words on 
this point. Trotters often require considerable 
training chiefly because, though the trot is un- 
doubtedly a natural gait, it is not the gait at 
which the horse naturally goes at his greatest 
speed. For the same reason it is often necessary 
for a horse to get thoroughly over the flight iness 
and giddiness of youth before he is fit for great 
performances on the track. There are, of course, 
cases of phenomenal precocity, just as there are 
in the human race, but it may be doubted whether 
great precocity, in either horse or man, is ever 
desirable in the long run, and the saying of Hiram 
Woodruff, many years ago, that " the best 
trotters never reach their best speed without a 



160 THE HORSE 

great deal of handling," is probably as true to-day 
as it ever was. 

Can our trotters be improved still further? 
There is no question about it, but in looking for- 
ward it is well to keep two things in mind: first, 
that we are approaching the point where greater 
speed at the trot will be impossible and that there- 
fore the lowering of records must be constantly 
slower and in less degree; and second, that great 
improvement may be going on, even though 
records be not materially lowered. The increased 
fixity of type that is sure to follow; the higher 
average of speed for all trotting bred horses ; the 
beauty and finish that have already come from the 
fine blood-lines in use and which, as time passes, 
are destined to become more and more general — all 
these things we may regard with no less pride and 
satisfaction than the occasional exhibition of great 
speed. 



END 



HANDBOOKS 



Each book deals with a separate subject 
and deals with it thoroughly. If you want to 
know anything about Airedales an Q UT * ING 
HANDBOOK gives you all you want. If 
it's Apple Growing, another U T'l N G 
HANDBOOK meets your need. The Fish- 
erman, the Camper, the Poultry-raiser, the 
Automobilist, the Horseman, all varieties of 
outdoor enthusiasts, will find separate volumes 
for their separate interests. There is no 
waste space. 

The series is based on the plan of one 
subject to a book and each book complete. 
The authors are experts. Each book has been 
specially prepared for this series and all are 
published in uniform style, flexible cloth 
binding, selling at the fixed price of seventy 
cents per copy. 

Two hundred titles are projected. The 
series covers all phases of outdoor life, from 
bee-keeping to big game shooting. The 
books now ready or in preparation are de- 
scribed on the following pages: 



OUTING PUBLISHING COMPANY 

OUTTNG 5i5 FIFTH AVENUE etfRH€ 

S^CcMSJe^ N£W YORK CFTY HANDBOOKS 



Outing Handbooks 



The Airedale. By William Haynes. This book opens with a 
short chapter on the origin and development of the Airedale as 
a distinctive breed. The author then takes up the problems of 
type as bearing on the selection of the dog, breeding, training 
and use. The book is designed for the non-professional dog 
fancier who wishes common sense advice which does not in- 
volve elaborate preparation or expenditure. Chapters are in- 
cluded on the care of the dog in the kennel and simple 
remedies for ordinary diseases. 

The Amateur Gunsmith. Edited by Horace Kephart. Every man 
who owns a gun yields at some time or other to the tempta- 
tion to take it apart. Usually he regrets having yielded to this 
temptation when it comes time to reassemble. This book is 
designed to aid the inquisitive and deft-fingered who do not 
care or are unable to turn the gun over to a professional gun- 
smith for repair. It is thirty years since anything of this sort 
appeared, and in that interval the local gunsmiths have prac- 
tically passed out, leaving the gun user to depend entirely upon 
the experts of the large sporting goods dealers in the larger 
cities or the factory of the maker. 

The American Rifle. By Charles Askins. The author has taken 
up in detail the various sporting rifles now in common use, 
and described their different advantages, with the maximum 
caliber and load for various game. An important feature is 
the discussion of trajectory and muzzle velocity as affecting 
range and accuracy. The book is designed especially with 
reference to the needs of the man who wishes to take up the 
use of the rifle or to find a new gun better adapted to the 
uses to which he wishes to put it. 

Apple Growing. By M. C. Burrltt. The objective point of this 
book is the home orchard with incidental reference to market 
possibilities. It deals with such matters as the kinds of apples 
best suited to certain localities, the location of the orchard 
and the soil qualities most to be desired, and the varieties that 
can be planted with a reasonable assurance of success. The 
whole problem of planting is dealt with thoroughly and also 
the care of the trees, and the harvesting and storage of the 
fruit. 

The Automobile. — Its Selection, Care and Use. By Robert Sloss 
This is a plain, practical discussion of the things that every 
man needs to know if he is to buy the right car and get the 
most out of it. The various details of operation and care 
are given in simple, intelligible terms. From it the car owner 
can easily learn the mechanism of his motor and the art of 
locating motor trouble, as well as how to use his car for 
the greatest pleasure. A chapter is included on building 
garages. 
Backwoods Surgery and Medicine. By Charles Stuart Moody. A 
handy book for the prudent lover of the woods who doesn't 
expect to be ill but believes in being on the safe side. Com- 
mon-sense methods for the treatment of the ordinary wounds 
and accidents are described — setting a broken limb, reducing 
a dislocation, caring for burns, cuts, etc. Practical remedies 
for camp diseases are recommended, as well as the ordinary 
Indications of the most probable ailments. Includes a list of 
the necessary medical and surgical supplies. 

The manafier of a mine in 'Nome, AlasTca, writes as 
follows: "I 7iave been on the trail for years (twelve 
in the Klondike and Alaska) and have ahcays wanted 
just sncJi a hook as Dr. Moody's Backwoods Surgery 
and Medicine." 



Outing Handbooks 



The Beagle. In this book emphasis will be laid on the use of 
the beagle in the hunting field rather than in the show ring. 
It is designed for the man who wishes to keep a small pack 
for his own enjoyment rather than for the large kennel owner. 
Simple remedies are prescribed and suggestions are given 
as to the best type for the purposes of purchase or breeding. 

Boat and Canoe Building. Edited by Horace Kephart. It is not 
a difficult matter to build a boat or a canoe yourself. All that 
is necessary is to bring together knowledge, manual dexterity, 
and the proper material. The material can be secured almost 
anywhere at little expense. The manual dexterity will come 
with practice and this book furnishes the knowledge. All 
types of the smaller boats and canoes are dealt v/ith and 
suggestions are given as to the building and equipping of 
the smaller sail boats. 

Camp Cookery. By Horace Kephart. "The less a man carries in 
his pack, the more he must carry in his head," says Mr. Kep- 
hart. This book tells what a man should carry in both pack 
and head. Every step is traced — the selection of provisions 
and utensils, with the kind and quantity of each, the prep- 
aration of game, the building of fires the cooking of every 
conceivable kind of food that the camp outfit or woods, fields, 
or streams may provide — even to the making of desserts. 
Every precept is the result of hard practice and long experience. 
Every recipe has been carefully tested. It is the book for the 
man who wants to dine well and wholesomely, but in true 
wilderness fashion without reliance on grocery stores or elab- 
orate camp outfits. It is adapted equally well to the trips of 
every length and to all conditions of climate, season or coun- 
try; the best possible companion for one who wants to travel 
light and live well. 

The chapter headings tell their own story: 
Provisions. — ^Utensils. — Fires. — Dressing and Keeping Game and 
Fish. — Meat. — Game. — Fish and Shellfish. — Cured Meats, etc. — 
Eggs, — Breadstuffs and Cereals. — Vegetables. — Soups. — Bever- 
ages and Desserts. 

"Scores of new hints may te obtained by the house- 
keeper as tcell as the camper from Camp Cookery." 
— Portland Oregonian. 

"I am inclined to thing that the advice contained 
in Mr. Eephart's book is to be relied on. I had to 
stop reading his recipes for cooking wild fowl — they 
made me hungry." — New York Herald. 
*'The most useful and valuable book to the camper 
yet published." — Grand Rapids Herald. 
"Camp Cookery is destined to be in the kit of every 
tent dweller in the country." 
— Edwin Markham in the San Francisco Examiner, 

Exercise and Health. By Dr. Woods Hutchinson. Dr. Hutchin- 
son takes the common-sense view that the greatest problem 
in exercise for most of us is to get enough of the right kind. 
The greatest error in exercise is not to take enough, and the 
greatest danger in athletics is in giving them up. The 
Chapter heads are illuminating: Errors in Exercise. — Exercise 
and the Heart. — Muscle Maketh Man. — The Danger of Stop- 
ping Athletics. — Exercise that Rests. It is written in a direct 
matter-of-fact manner with an avoidance of medical terms, 
and a strong emphasis on the rational, all-round manner of 
living that is best calculated to bring a man to a ripe old 
age with little illness or consciousness of bodily weakness. 



Outing Handbooks 



Farm Drainage and Irrigation. One of the most serious farm 
problems is that connected with water, either Its lack or its 
too great abundance. This book gives the simple proved 
facts as to the best methods for taking water off the land or 
bringing it on. It shows the farmer how to bring his swamps 
into cultivation without converting them into sun-dried wastes. 
Also how the sandy stretches may be kept moist and bearing 
through even the driest summer. A knowledge of these simple 
facts will relieve the farmer from the haunting fear of 
drought or the long rains that sometimes blight the spring 
in Northern and Eastern latitudes. 

The Farmer's Bees. The keeping of bees is neither a difflcult nor 
expensive matter, nor is it one in which a little knowledge 
is necessarily a dangerous thing. However, there are a few 
elementary facts which could be well learnt, such, for ex- 
ample, as the handling of swarms and the provision of proper 
honey-making food and the care of the bees in winter. This 
book covers this elementary field in a logical and convincing 
manner. 

The Farmer's Bookkeeper. Half of the secret of success in farm- 
ing is knowing the real relation between income and expendi- 
ture. In no business is that so hard to find probably, as in 
farming. Mr. Buffum has presented a simple, common-sense 
method of farm accounting which he has used with great suc- 
cess for many years. It requires no elaborate knowledge of 
bookkeeping and Is entirely reliable in showing the farmer 
where his business stands as a going concern. 

The Farmer's Cattle. In this volume the problem discussed is 
two-fold, one of breeding and the other of care. The breed is 
determined largely by the use to which the farmer wishes his 
cattle put, whether for dairy or beef purposes. Their care 
Is affected to a certain extent by the same consideration but 
not so largely. For the average farmer a combination of the 
two is usually most desirable, and it is in this light that this 
book discusses the problem. All of the information is de- 
signed to avoid unnecessary expense and to save the farmer 
from rushing into extreme and costly experiments or wasting 
his time on valueless mongrel strains. The care of calves 
is discussed in length, as also the stabling and feeding of 
milk cows and the feeding of the stock destined for the 
market. 

The Farmer's Hogs. It was once the boast of Illinois, then the 
biggest grain producing state of the Union, that 90 per cent, 
of the corn raised in that state was fed in the country of its 
origin. Probably 70 per cent, of that amount was fed to hogs. 
That condition still holds in a large measure. Hence this book 
is designed to aid the practical farmer in selecting the best 
hogs for market purposes as well as for home use, and to 
advise him as to their care and feeding so as to insure a 
living profit on their cost and the cost of the grain necessary 
to feed them for market. 

The Farmer's Poultry. It is a proved fact that there is large 
.profit to be made from the raising of poultry but not by the 
amateur who rushes into it without knowledge or experience. 
In this book is given the fruit of many years experience of a 
man who has made poultry raising pay. The birds dealt with 
are not the expensive exotics of the poultry fancier but the 
practical varieties with records as good producers and a good 
name in the market. The reader is taught how to provide 
shelter for his poultry that shall keep them comfortable and 
safe from vermin of all kinds without involving the builder In 
prohibitive expense. The objective point is poultry as a by- 
product of the Farm that shall provide amply for the farmer's 
aable with a margin for the market. 



Outing Handbooki 



The Farmer's Vegetable Garden. This Is designed especially for 
home growing with some reference, however, to the possibilities 
of market use of over supply. It gives the latest and best 
advice on the raising of the staple vegetables, such as potatoes, 
cabbages, beans, peas, turnips, and so forth. It also shows 
the farmer how, without material trouble or expense he may 
enrich his table with new varieties and lengthen the season 
of his garden's productiveness. It is a manual for the gardener 
who has only odd times to devote to his garden and its 
advice is intended to enable him to use that time to the 
highest advantage. 

Farm Planning. It is a vexing problem with every practical 
farmer to get the greatest possible use out of his land with the 
least possible waste. A stony hillside is not suitable for the 
raising of wheat but it may furnish an excellent location for 
an orchard. A piece of swampy bottom land may not be 
ideal for barley but with proper drainage and cultivation it 
may be unexcelled for a vegetable garden. This book deals 
with just such problems and also with the placing of farm 
buildings, yards, and so forth, in order to make them fit in, 
so that the farm may be kept constantly at its highest pitch of 
usefulness. 

The Fine Art of Fishing. By Samuel G. Camp. Combines the 
pleasure of catching fish with the gratification of following the 
sport in the most approved manner. The suggestions offered 
are helpful to beginner and expert anglers. The range of 
fish and fishing conditions covered is wide and includes such 
subjects as "Casting Fine and Far Off," "Strip-Casting for 
Bass," "Fishing for Mountain Trout," and "Autumn Fishing 
for Lake Trout." The book is pervaded with a spirit of love fo) 
the streamside and the out-doors generally which the genu- 
ine angler will appreciate. A companion book to "Fishinti' 
Kits and Equipment." The advice on outfitting so capably 
given in that book is supplemented in this later work by equally 
valuable information on how to use the equipment. 

Fishing Kits and Equipment. By Samuel G. Camp. A complete 
guide to the angler buying a new outfit. Every detail of fishing 
kit of the freshwater angler is described, from rodtip to creel 
and clothing. Special emphasis is laid on outfitting for fly 
fishing, but full instruction is also given to the man who 
wants to catch pickerel, pike, muskellunge, lake-trout, bass 
and other fresh-water game fishes. Prices are quoted for all 
articles recommended and the approved method of selecting 
and testing the various rods, lines, leaders, etc.. Is described. 

"A complete guide to the angler buying a new outfit." 

— Peoria Herald. 

''The man advised hp Mr. Camp will catch his fish." 

—Seattle, P. I. 

"Even the seasoned angler tcill read this hook with 

profit.'' — Chicago Tribune. 

The Horse, Its Breeding, Care and Use. By David Buffum. Mr. 
Buffum takes up the common, every-day problems of the 
ordinary horse-user, such as feeding, shoeing, simple home 
remedies, breaking and the cure for various equine vices. An 
important chapter is that tracing the influx of Arabian blood 
into the English and American horses and its value and limi- 
tations. Chapters are included on draft-horses, carriage horses, 
and the development of the two-minute trotter. It is dis- 
tinctly a sensible book for the sensible man who wishes to 
know how he can improve his horses and his horsemanship 
at the same time. 



Outing Handbooks 



Intensive Farmmg. By I*. C. Corbett. The problem as presented 
in this book is not so much that of producing results on a 
small scale because the land is no longer fertile enough to be 
handled in an expensive manner but rather one of producing 
a profit on high priced land, which is the real secret of in- 
tensive farming. This book will take up the question of the 
kind of crops, and method of planting and cultivation neces- 
sary to justify the high prices now being charged for farming 
land in many sections. Its publication marks the passing of 
the old style, wasteful farmer with his often destructive 
methods and the appearance of the new farming which means 
added farm profit and proper conservation of the soil's re- 
sources. 

Leather and Cloth Working, Edited by Horace Kephart. This 
book is designed to give competent instruction in the making 
of the outdoor paraphernalia into which leather and cloth enter, 
such as tents, sails, sleeping bags, knapsacks, blanket rolls, 
and so forth. It has the double advantage of reducing the 
cost of the equipment and minimizing the risks of loss or 
accident when away from civilization. The cutting or patching 
of a sail or the repair of a sleeping bag may seem like a 
simple matter, but knowledge of how to do it may often spell 
the difference between safety and comfort or danger and a very 
high degree of discomfort. 

Making and Keeping Soils. By David Buffum. This is intended 
for practical farmers, especially those who wish to operate on 
a comparatively small scale. The author gives the latest 
results as showing the possibility of bringing worn-out soil up 
to its highest point of productiveness and maintaining it there 
with the least possible expense. The problem of fertilization 
enters in as also that of crop rotation and the kind of crops 
best adapted to the different kinds of soil. 

The Motor Boat, Its Selection, Care and Use. By H. W. Slauson. 
The intending purchaser of a motor boat is advised as to the 
type of boat best suited to his particular needs, the power 
required for the desired speeds, and the equipment necessary 
for the varying uses. The care of the engines receives special 
attention and chapters are included on the use of the boat in 
camping and cruising expeditions, its care through th© winter, 
and its efficiency in the summer. 

Outdoor Signalling. By Elbert Wells. Mr. Wells has perfected a 
method of signalling by means of wig-wag, light, smoke, or 
whistle which is as sirpple as it is effective. The funda- 
mental principle can be learnt in ten minutes and its applica- 
tion is far easier than that of any other code now in use. 
It permits also the use of cipher and can be adapted to almost 
any imaginable conditions of weather, light, or topography. 

Planning the Country House. The builder of a house in the 
country or in the suburbs is frequently forced to choose be- 
tween two extremes — his own ignorance or the conventional 
stereotyped designs of mediocre architects and builders. This 
book provides a solution by presenting a number of excellent 
plans by an expert architect of wide experience in country 
house building, together with a plain statement of the prob- 
lems which the builder must face, and the most suitable and 
advisable methods of solving them. A sufficient number of 
plans are presented for a liberal choice or to suggest the 
very house that the reader has been looking for. 



Outing Handbooks 



Rustic Carpentry. Edited by Horace Kephart. Every year the 
number of dwellers in summer cottages of the smaller type 
increases and every year more and more people are giving 
attention to the beautifying of their own summer places with 
porch gates, fences, lawn seats, summer houses, and so forth. 
The country carpenter is not always available and frequently 
not dependable. This book answers the call for information 
as to how the owner of a summer house or summer cottage 
may be his own carpenter, building his own furniture, con- 
structing his own porches, adorning his place with attractive 
fences, seats and so forth. Incidentally it opens the door to 
a most attractive way of spending one's leisure hours on a 
summer vacation. 

The Setter. As the hunting dog "par excellence" the setter will 
only be treated with direct reference to his use before the guns. 
A practical method of putting a puppy through the necessary 
preliminary training before he takes the field, is described, as 
also the proper use of the broken dog in actual hunting or in 
field trials. As in our other dog books special attention will be 
given to the care of the dog in the kennels, type and qualities 
as affecting breeding, and simple remedies for the ordinary 
diseases. 

The Scottish and Irish Terriers. By Williams Haynes. These 
two breeds are included in one book because of their general 
similarity of type, habits and use. Both have been increasing 
in popularity greatly in recent years. This book responds to 
a widely felt need for a common-sense manual which shall de- 
scribe the breed, its noteworthy characteristics, points to be ob- 
served in selecting a dog, and the training of the dog after 
selection. Remedies for the ordinary diseases are described 
and advice given on the construction and care of kennels in 
a comprehensive and feasible manner. 

Sheet Metal Working. Edited by Horace Kephart. Sheet metal 
enters into many of the articles that constitute an important 
part of the camper or canoeist's outfit such, for example, as 
baker's ovens, cups and pans, not to mention the numberless 
cans, boxes and cases which must find a place somewhere 
in the outdoor man's bags. This book teaches the reader how 
to obtain exactly the thing he wants because it teaches him 
how to make it himself. Also it is an excellent insurance 
against discomfort in the woods by its practical advice in the 
matter of rough and ready repair and refitting. 

Sporting Firearms. By Horace Kephart. Mr. Kephart has done 
for the user of the shotgun, the rifle, or the revolver what ho 
did for the camper and woods cruiser in "The Book of Camp- 
ing and Woodcraft." All three arms are dealt with from the 
standpoint of the every-day non-professional user, and com- 
mon-sense advice is given as to the makes, calibres, and types 
for the various uses. Even expert marksmen will find in this 
book possibilities of their favorite weapon suggested or de- 
scribed, of which they had not dreamt before. 

Tracks and Tracking. By Josef Brunner. After twenty years of 
patient study and practical experience, Mr. Brunner can, from 
his intimate knowledge, speak with authority on this subject: 
"Tracks and Tracking" shows how to follow intelligently even 
the most intricate animal or bird tracks. It teaches how to in- 
terpret tracks of wild game and decipher the many tell-tale 
signs of the chase that would otherwise pass unnoticed. It 
proves how it is possible to tell from the footprints the name, 
sex, speed, direction, whether and how wounded, and many 
other things about wild animals and birds. All material has 
been gathered first hand. 



Outing Handbooks 



Wing and Trap-Shooting. By Charles Asklns. The only practical 
manual in existence dealing with wing shooting with tho 
modern gun. It contains a full discussion of the various 
methods, such as snap-shooting, svving and half-swing, dis- 
cusses the flight of birds with reference to the gunner's 
problem of lead and range and makes special application of 
the various points to the different birds commonly shot in this 
country. A chapter is included on trap shooting and the book 
closes with a forceful and common-sense presentation of the 
etiquette of the field. 



OUnNG PUBLISHING COMPANY 

3i5 FIFTH AVENUE © UTING 

NEW YORK CITY HANDBOOKS 



|4U^ '^ ^^^ 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



fiOV ? -'< 



